Class 
Book 




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j)'i(giii i>l?. 



COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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BARNES GENERAL HISTORY 



A BRIEF HISTORY 



OF 



ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, AND 
MODERN PEOPLES 



WITH SOME ACCOUNT OK THEIK MONUMENTS, INSTITUTIONS 
ARTS, MANNEKS, AND CUSTOMS 



JOEIi DORMAN STEELE, Ph.D., F.G.S. 

AND 

ESTHER BAKER STEELE, Lit.D. 




NEW YORK ..-. CINCINNATI :• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



1 




Lfbrary of Coiigrdi% 
Offfco of tht 

M«Y 1 1900 

S»(fl«t.r of Copyrlgit* 

/^^ y^^/ SECOND COPY, 

61514 



BAli^iES BRIEF HISTORY SERIES. 

r2M0. ILLUSTUATEI). 

By Joel Dorman Steele and Esther B. Steele. 



BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 

FOK THE Use of schools and for PiaVATE KEAUINO. 

BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF FRANCE, fou the Use 

OF SCIIOOI-S AND FOU PltlVATE KEADING. 

BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF GREECE, with Select 
Readings fuoai Standard autiious. 

BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF ROME, with Select 
Readings fuoji Standard Althoks. 

BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT PEOPLES, 

FOR THE Use of Schools and for riavATK Reading. 

BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL AND 
MODERN PEOPLES, roii the Use of Schools and 

FOR PRIVATE READING. 

BARNES BRIEF GENERAL HlfSTORY, Ancient, Mk- 

DI.?':VAL, AND MODERN PEOl'I^ES. 



Copyright, 1883, hy A. S. Barnes & Co. 
Copyright, 1809, hy American Book Company. 












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PKEFAGE 



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THE plan of the Barnes Brief History Series has been 
thoroughly tested in the books already issued, and their 
extended use and approval are evidence of its general ex- 
cellence. In this work the political history, which occu- 
pies most if not all of the ordinary school-text, is condensed 
to the salient and essential facts, in order to give room for 
some account of the literature, religion, architecture, char- 
acter, and habits of the different nations. Surely, it is as 
important to know somethmg about Plato as all about Caesar; 
to learn how the ancients wrote their books as how they 
fought their battles ; and to study the virtues of the old 
Germans and the dawn of our own customs in English 
home-life, as to trace the petty squabbles of Alexandei-'s 
successors or the intricacies of the Wars of the Roses. 

The general divisions on " Civilization '^ and ^'Manners 
and Customs" were prepared by Mrs. J. Dorjnian Steele. 

The chapters on '^Manners and Customs" and "Scenes in 
Real Life" represent the people of history as men and women 
subject to the same wants, hopes, and fears as ourselves, 
and so bring the distant past near to us. The "Scenes," 
which are intended only for reading, are the result of a 
careful study of the monuments in foreign museums, of the 
ruins themselves, and of the latest authorities on the do- 



IV PREFACE. 

mestic life of the peoples of other lands and times. Though 
intentionally written in a semi-romantic style, they are 
accurate pictures of what might have occurred, and some 
of them are simple transcriptions of the details sculptured 
in Assyrian alabaster, or painted on Egyptian walls. 

It should be borne in mind that the extracts here made 
from ^'The Sacred Books of the East" are not comprehen- 
sive specimens of their style and teachings, but only gems 
selected from a mass of matter, much of which is absurd, 
meaningless, and even revolting. It has not seemed best 
to cumber a book like this with selections conveying no 
moral lesson. 

The numerous cross-references, the abundant dates in 
parentheses, the blackboard analyses, the pronunciation of 
the names in the index, the genealogical tables, the choice 
reading references at the close of each general subject, and 
the novel *' Historical Recreations'^ in the appendix, will be 
of service to both teacher and pupil. An acknowledgment 
of indebtedness in the preparation of this history is hereby 
made to the works named in the reading references. 

It is hoped that a large class of persons who desire to 
know something about the progress of historic criticism as 
well as the discoveries resulting from recent archasological 
excavations, but who have no leisure to read the ponderous 
volumes of Brugsch, Layard, Grote, Mommsen, Rawlinson, 
Ihne, Lanfrey, Froude, Martin, and others, will find this 
little book just what they need. 




CONTENTS 




ANCIENT PEOPLES. 



PAGE 

Introduction 9 

Egypt 15 

Babylonia and Assyria .... 45 

Phoenicia 73 

JUDEA 80 



PAGft 

Media and Persia 8S 

India 105 

China 10& 

Greece 113 

Rome 205 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



PAGE 

Introduction 315 

Rise of the Saracens 326 

Rise of the Prankish Em- 
pire 331 

Rise of Modern Nations ... 337 

England 337 

France 354 



PAGB 

Germany 373 

Switzerland 387 

Italy in the Middle Ages . . 390 

The Crusades 39? 

The Moors in Spain 404 

Asii.. IN the Middle Ages . . . 405 
Medieval Civilization 408 



MODERN PEOPLES. 



PAGE 

Introduction 423 

The Sixteenth Century ... 430 

The Frencli in Italy 430 

The Age of Charles V . . . . 433 
Rise of the Dutch Re- 
public 445 

Civil-Religious "Wars of 

France 450 

England under the Tudors 455 , 



PAGE 

The Civilization 467 

The Seventeenth Century, 480 
The Thirty- Years' War . 480 
France in the Seven- 
teenth Century 486 

England under the Stu- 
arts 494 

The Civilization 513 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Eighteenth Century. 520 
Peter the Great of Russia, 

and Charles XII. of 

Sweden 520 

Rise of Prussia in the Age 

of Frederick the Great . 526 
England under the House 

of Hanover 532 

The French Revolution . . 536 
The Civilization 553 



PAGE 

The Nineteenth Century. . 559 

France 559 

England 583 

Germany 588 

Italy 592 

Turkey 596 

Greece 598 

The Netherlands 598 

' Russia 599 

Japan 600 



APPENDIX. 



The Seven Wonders and the 
Seven Wise Men 



PAGE 

Historical Recreations. . . ii 
Index xxv 



LIST OF MAPS. 



PAGE 

Early Races and Nations 11 

Ancient Egypt 16 

Assyrian and Persian Empires .... 45 
Phoenicia and Judea in Solomon's 

Time 74 

Canaan and the Wilderness 81 

Greece and her Colonies 113 

Hellas in the Heroic Age 118 

Greece in the Time of the Persian 

Wars 125 

Plain of Marathon 126 

Vicinity of Thermopylce 130 

Vicinity of Athens and Salamis ... 135 

Peloponnesiau War 142 

Empire of Alexander 153 

Roman Empire and its Provinces . 203 
Early Tribes and Cities of the 

Italian Peninsula 210 

Punic Wars 228 

Italia to the Time of Augustus 255 

Ancient Rome 299 

Nations of Western Europe (Fifth 

Century) 317 



PAGE 

Empire of the Caliphs (Eighth 

Century) 327 

Empire of Charlemagne 333 

Four Conquests of England 338 

France in the Time of Hugh Capet 357 
Burgundy imder Charles the Bold. 370 
German Empire under the Hohen- 
staufens, including Naples and 

Sicily 378 

Syria in the Time of the Crusades . 401 
Iberian Peninsula in the Fifteenth 

Century 404 

Great Voyages of Discovery 426 

Italy from the Fifteenth Century. . 431 
Wars in France, the Netherlands, 

and Civil War in England 447 

Central Europe (the Thirty- Yeais' 

and Seven- Years' Wars) 481 

Eastern Europe (Seventeenth Cen- 
tury) 495 

Modern Nations of Europe, Western 

Asia, and Africa 532 

Napoleon's Wars 5(;o 



ANCIENT PEOPLES. 



Examine History, for it is " Philosophy teaching by Experience." 

Carlyie. 



" Truth comes down to us from the past, as gold is washed down 
from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious 
particles— the debris of the centuries." 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS 



'• Egyp- 
tians. 



2. Babylo- 
nians and 
Assyrians, 



3. Phoeni- 

cians. 

4. Hebrews. 

5. Medes 

and 
Persians. 

6. Hindoos. 

7. Chinese. 



8. Grecians. 



9. Romans. 



1. political 
History, 



f 1. Origin. 
I 2. Old Empire. 
i .3. Middle Empire. 
I 4. New Empire. 
1 5. Decline. 



Civiliza- 
tion. 



3. Manners 

AND CUSl'OMS. 



King. 

Priests. 

3Iilitary Class. 

Lower Classes. 

Hieroglyphics. 

Papyrus. 
C Book of the Bead. 
Literature. < PhtahJiotep's Book. 

( Miscellaneous Books. 
Education. 
Monuments and Art. 
Practical Arts and Inventions. 
General Character. 
Reliuion. 



1. Society. 



2. Writins 



3. Embalming. 

4. Burial. 



5. Scenes in 
Real Life. 



Pyramid Building. 
A Lord of the LV"' 2 
Amenemhe III. 
A Theban Dinner Party. 



Dynasty. 



4. Summary. 

5. chronology. 

6. Reading References. 

f 1. 



political 
History. 



2. Civiliza- 
tion. 



3. Manners 
and Customs. 



Origin. 
Clialdea. 

3. Assyria. 

4. Names of Kings. 
I 5. Babylonia. 

[ 6. Names of Kings. 

f 1. Society. 

I 2. Writing. 

; 3. Literature. 

I 4. Monuments and Art. 

I 5. Practical Arts and Inventions. 

f 1. General Character. 

2. Religion. 
I 3. Curious Customs, 
j ( I. A Chaldean Home. 

4. Scenes in j 2. ^ Horning in Nineveh. 
Real Life. 13.^ Royal Lion Hunt. 

Asshurbanipal going to War. 



\i 



political history. 
Civilization. 
Political History. 
Civilization. 
Political History. 
Civilization. 
mannkus and customs. 
political history. 
Civilization, 
political history. 
Civilization. 



[The subdivisions of tliese 
general topics may be filled in 
from the titles of tlie paragraphs 
in the text, as the student pro- 
ceeds.] 



POLITICAL 
HISTORY. 



Geographical and Early History. 

Sparta. 

Athens. 

Persian Wars. 

Age of Pericles. 

Peloponnesian War. 

Lacedajmon and Tlieban Rule. 

Macedon. 

Alexander's Successors. 



2. civilization. 

8. manners and customs. 

1. political history. 

2. Civilization. 

3. Manners and customs. 



iBiiS'p'^i'i^Xie 



tmws \mmiM\ 




iMllODPiflO! 




GKEAT HALL OF KAUNAK.. 



the central point in history. 



History is a record of 
what man has done. It 
treats of the rise and 
growth of the different 
nations which have ex- 
isted, of the deeds of their 
great men, the manners 
and cnstoms of theu' peo- 
ples, and the part each 
nation has taken in the 
progress of the world. 

Dates are reckoned 

from the birth of Christ, 

Time before that event is 



10 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

denoted as b. c. ; time after, a. d. {Anno Domini, in the year 
of our Lord).^ 

Three Divisions. — History is distinguished as Ancient, 
Mediasval, and Modern. Ancient history extends from the 
earliest time to the fall of the Roman Empire (476 a. d.) ; 
Mediaeval, or the history of the Middle ages, covers about 
a thousand years, or to the close of the 15th century ; and 
Modern history continues to the present time. 

The only Historic Race is the Caucasian, the others 
having done little worth recording. It is usually divided 
into three great branches : the Ar'yan, the Semit'ic, and 
the Hamit'ic. The first of these, which includes the Per- 
sians, the Hindoos, and nearly all the European nations, is 
the one to v/hich we belong. It has always been noted for 
its intellectual vigor. The second embraces the Assyrians, 
the Hebrews, the Plioenicians, and the Arabs. It has been 
marked by religious fervor, and has given to the world the 
three faiths — Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan — which 
teach the worship of one God. The third branch ^ includes 
the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. It has been remarkable 
for its massive architecture. 

Ancient Aryan Nation.— Asia was probably the birth- 
place of mankind. In a time far back of all history there 
lived in Bactria (map, p. 11) a nation that had made con- 
siderable progress in civilization. The people called them- 

1 Tliis metliod of reckouiug was introduced by Exigiiua, a Roman abbot, near the 
middle of the fitli century. It is now thought that tlie birth of Christ occurred about 
four years earlier than the time fixed in our chronology. The Jews still date from 
the Creation, and the Mohammedans usually from the Hegira (p. 326), 622 A. u. 

2 Tlie Clialdeans were a mixed people, and aie variously classed as Semitic.Hamitic, 
or Turanian. Those nations of Europe and Asia that are not Aryan or Semitic are 
frequently termed Turanian. This brancli would then include the Mongols, Chinese, 
Japanese, Turks, Tartars, Lapps, Finns, Magyars, etc. Iran (e'-rahn), or Aria, the 
old name of Persia (the "land of light"), is opposed toTuran, the barbarous region 
around (the " land of darkness "). The Aryan (Indo-European) and Semitic languages 
have certain resemblances, but the so-called Turanian dialects bear little resemblance 
to one another. 



12 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

selves Aryas or Aryans, — those who go straight or upward. 
They dwelt in houses, plowed the soil, ground their grain 
in mills, rode in vehicles, worked certain metals, calcu- 
lated up to 100, and had family ties, a government, and a 
religion.^ 

Aryan Dispersion. — How long our Ai-yan forefathers 
lived united in then' early home, we have no means of know- 
ing. As they increased in numbers, they would naturally 
begin to separate. When they moved into distant regions, 
the bond of union would become weaker, their language 
would begin to vary, and so the seeds of new tongue^ and 
new nations would be sown. To the south-east these Aryan 
emigrants pushed into Persia and northern India; to the 
west they gradually passed into Europe, whence, in a later 
age, they settled Australia and America. In general, they 
drove before them the previous occupants of the land. The 
peninsulas of Greece and Italy were probably earhest occu- 
pied. Three successive waves of emigration seem to have 
afterward swept over central Europe. First came the Celts 
(Kelts), then the Teutons (Germans), and finally the Slaves.^ 
Each of these appears to have crowded the preceding one 
farther west, as we now find the Celts in Ireland and Wales, 
and the Slaves in Russia and Poland. 



1 These views are based on similarities of language. About 600,000,000 people— lialf 
the population of the globe— speak Aryan languages. These contain many words 
which have a familj' likeness. Thus, night, in L,atm, is noct ,- in German, nacht ; and 
in Greek, nykt. TJiree,iii Latin, is tres ; in Greek, treis ,- and in Sanscrit (the ancient 
language of the Hindoos), tri. All such words aie supposed to have belonged to one 
original speech, and to suggest the life of that parent race. Thus we infer that the 
Aryans had a regular government, since words meaning king or ruler are the 
same in Sanscrit, Latin, and English ; and that they had a family life, since the words 
meaning father, mother, brother, sister, etc., are the same in these kindred tongues. 
Some recent theories discredit successive western migrations, place the primitive 
Aryan home in Europe, and argue that the Indo-Iranians emigrated from Europe 
to Asia. 

2 This word originally meant " glorious," but came to have its present signification 
because at one time there were in Europe so many bondsmen of Slavonic birth. 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



The following table shows the principal peoples which have 
descended from the ancient races : — 



1. IIAMITIC KACJ 



2. SEMITIC RACE 



'"■ \ CHA 



PTIANS. 
CHALDEANS (1) 



3. ARYAN RACE. 



AS8YKIAN8. 
PlKENICIANS. 
HKHKEWS. 
AKABS. 

meue8 anu persians. 
Hindoos. 



, .; Greeks. 

•=1 ROMANS 



CELTS 



( French. 
) Italians. 
^1 Spaniards. j 

I Portuguese. J 

f Welsh. 
j Irish. 

] Highland Scots. 
I Britons. 

Germans. 

Dutch. 

English. 
^ Swedes. 
I Danes. 
[ Norwegians. 

Russians. 
Poles. 
Serbs. 
Bohemians. 



Komanic {Romance) 
reoples. 



Commencement of Civil History.— History begins 
on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates.^ 
There the rich alluvial soil, the genial climate, and the abun- 
dant natural products of the earth, offered every inducement 



1 " The Nile valley and the Tigris-Euphrates basin were two great oases in the 
vast desert which extended from west to east very nearly across the ea.stern hemi- 
sphere. These favored spots were not only the two centers of early civilization, but 
they were rivals of each otlier. They were connected by roads fit for tlie passage of 
vast arniie.s. Whenever there was an energetic ruler along the Nile or tlie Tigri.s- 
Euplirates, he at once, as if by an inevitable law, attempted the conquest of hi.s com- 
petitor for the control of western Asia. In fact, the history of ancient as well as 
modern Asia is little more than one continuous record of political struggles between 
Egypt and Mesopotamia, ending only when Europe entered the lists, 88 in tllO time 
of Alexander the Great and the Crusaders." 



14 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 



to a nomadic people to settle and commence a national 
life. Accordingly, amid the obscurity of antiquity, we catch 
sight of Memphis, Thebes, Nineveh, and Babylon,— the ear- 




liest cities of the world. The traveler of to-day, wandering 
among their ruins, looks upon the records of the infancy 
of civilized man. 



EGYPT 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Origin of the civilization wliich grew up on the 
banks of the Nile is uncertain. The earliest accounts repre- 
sent the country as divided into nomes, or provinces, and 
having a regular government. About 2700 ^ B. c. Menes 
(me'-neez), the half-mythical founder of the nation, is said 
to have conquered Lower Egypt and built Memphis, which 
he made his capital. Succeeding him, down to the conquest 
of Eg^^t by the Persians under Camby'ses (527 b. c), there 
were twenty-six dynasties of Pharaohs, or kings. The his- 
tory of this long period of over 2000 years is divided into 
that of the Old, Middle, and New Empires. 

1. The Old Empire (2700-2080 b. c.).— During this 

Oeographical Questions.— Jjocate tJie capitals of the five early kingdoms of Egypt : 
This, Elepliantine (fan'-te-na), Mem'phis, Heracleop'olis, Thebes ; the Pyramids of 
Gizeh; the Nile's first cataract. Why is southern Egypt called Upper? Describe 
Egypt. Ans. A flat valley, 2 to 10 miles wide, skirted by low, rocky hills ; on the 
west, the desert.; ou the east, a mountainous region rich in quarries, extending to the 
Red Sea. Through this narrow valley, for 600 miles, the Nile rolls its muddy waters 
northward. About 100 miles from the Mediterranean the hills recede, the valley 
widens, and the Nile divides into two outlets,— the Damietta and Rosetta. These 
branches diverge until they enter the sea, 80 miles apart. Anciently there were seven 
branches, and the triangular space they inclosed was called the Delta, from the 
Greek letter A. As the Nile receives no tributary for the last 1100 miles of its course 
it becomes smaller toward its mouth. 

1 Before the discoveries of the last century, the chief sources of information on 
Egypt were (1) Herod'otus, a Greek hi.storian who traveled along the Nile about 
450 B. c. ; (2) Diodo'rus Sic'ulus, another Greek historian, who visited Egypt in the 
ist century u. c. ; and (:5) INfau'etho, an Egyptian priest (3d century B. c.) of whose 
history onl3'- fragments now remain. Manetlio, who compiled his accounts from 
archives preserved in tlie Egyptian temi)les, has been the main authority on 
ohronology. How many dynasties were contemporaneous is a subject of dispute 



16 



EGYPT. 







new epoch began in Egyptian history, 
claimed all the district watered by the 



epoch the princi- 
pal interest clusters 
about the IV^'' or 
Pyramid dynasty, 
so called because its 
chief monarchs built 
the three great pyra- 
mids at Gizeh (ghe'- 
zeh). The best- 
known of these kings 
was Klm'fu, termed 
Cheops (ke'-ops) by 
Herodotus. In time, 
Egypt broke up into 
kingdoms, Memphis 
lost its preeminence, 
and Thebes became 
the favorite capital. 
2. The Middle 
Empire (2080 b. c- 
1525 B. c). — When 
the hundred-gated 
city, Thebes, rose to 
sovereign power, a 
The XII*^ dynasty 
Nile, and under its 



among Egyptologists, who differ ovor 3000 years— from 5702 i?. c. to 2601 b. c— on the 
date for Meues. As the Egyptians themselves had no continuous chronolog}^ but 
reckoned dates from the ascension of eacli king, the monuments furnish little help. 
Of the five recovered lists of kings, only one attempts to give the length of their 
respective reigns, and this is in 1()4 fragments. All early Egyptian dates are there- 
fore extremely uncertain, altliough most Egyptologists differ less than 200 years on 
those following the foundation of the New Empire. The Egyptian Exi)loration 
Fund (founded 1883) and the Arclueological Survey (1890) are now systematically 
investigating monuments and papyri. In this book, what is called the "Short Chro- 
nology" has been followed. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 17 

great kings, the Sesorta' sens and the Amenem'hes, Etliiopia 
was conquered. To tliis dynasty belong the famous Lake 
Moeris and the Labyrinth (p. 39). The briUiant XII^^» 
dynasty was followed by the weak XIII"'. The divided 
country invited attack, and the Hyksos (" shepherd kings "), 
a rude, barbarous race that had already conquered Lower 
Egypt, finally overran the whole region, and ruled it for 400 
years. Wlien at last they were driven out, they left to 
Eg3^pt a strong, centralized government. 

3. The New Empire (1525-527 b. c.).— The native 
kings having been restored to the throne, Eg}T3t became a 
united people, with Thebes for the capital. Then followed 
a true national life of 1000 years. The XVIII"^ and XIX*^ 
dynasties exalted Egypt to the height of its glory. Thoth- 
mes I. (tot'-meez) began a system of great Asiatic expedi- 
tions, which lasted 500 years. TJiothmes III.,^ the Egyptian 
Alexander the Great, was a magnificent warrior-king. In 
the sculptures, Nineveh and Babylon pay him tribute; 
while his ships, manned by Phoenician sailors, sweep the 
Mediterranean. The Great Temple of Karnak (p. 26) was 
largely built by him. Am'imo2)h III. was also a famous war- 
rior and builder. Among his structures there remains the 
Vocal Memnon, which was said to sing when kissed by the 
rising sun. Khu-en-A'ten, the heretic king, rejected the The- 
ban gods for the one-god {Aten) sun-worship of his foreign 
mother. He founded a new capital (now Tel-el-Amarna 
ruins), but neither capital nor religion long survived him. 
Seti (Mineptah I.) subdued Mesopotamia, and built the Great 
HaU of Columns at Karnak. At an early age his son, 

1 In 1881, between 30 and -10 royal niunimiea, Including those of Thotlunes III., 
Seti I., and Rameses IT., were found iu a concealed niummj'-pit near Thebes. The 
official records on the cases and bandages show that these precious relics had been 
moved from tomb to tomb, probably for safety, until at some crisis they had been 
hurriedly deposited here. The great Rameses liad thus been shifted many times, 



18 EGYPT. 

Ram'eses II., was made joint king with him, and they reigned 
together nntil Mineptah's death. Rameses II., the Sesostris 
the Great of the Greek historians, carried his conquering 
arms far into Africa. The greatest builder ^ of all the 
Pharaohs, his gigantic enterprises exhausted the nation. 
Annual slave-hunting expeditions were made into Ethiopia ; 
prisoners of war were lashed into service ; and the lives of 
the unhappy Hebrews were made '^ bitter with hard bondage, 
in mortar, and in brick" (Exod. i. 14). He founded a library 
inscribed " The Dispensary of the Soul," and gathered about 
him many men of genius, making his time a golden age of 
art and Hterature. 

The Decline of Egypt began with the XX"^ dynasty, 
when it was no longer able to retain its vast conquests. The 
tributary peoples revolted, and the country was subdued in 
turn by the Ethiopians and the Assyrians (p. 49). After 
nearly a century of foreign rule, Psammetichus of the XXVI^^ 
dynasty threw off the Assyrian yoke, and restored the Egyp- 
tian independence. This monarch, by employing Greek 



only to land at last in tlie Gizeli museum, where " his uncovered face now lies for 
the whole world to gaze upon." In 1891, over 60 mummies of the same period 
(XVII*'' to XXI't dynasties) were found in another tomh near the first. These had 
escaped the eyes of modern trafficking thieves, and were found as they were left over 
3000 years ago. In 1892, Khu-en-Aten's tomh was uncovered. His enemies had shat- 
tered his sarcophagus, toin his mummy- wrappings to slireds, and effaced every token 
of his hated religion. Babylonian claj^-tablet dispatches (p. 65) dug up in 1887 at Tel- 
el- Amarna fix Khu-en-Ateu's reign at about 1430 b. c. 

1 Though most of the monuments in Egypt hear his name, it is often inscribed 
over the erased cartouch (p. 22) of a previous king. One of his first acts after Seti's 
death was to complete the unfinished temple of Ab'ydus, where his father was buried. 
A long inscription which he placed at the entrance, ostensibly in praise of the de- 
parted Seti, is a good example of his own boastfulness and habit of self-glorification. 
He saj^s, "The most beautiful thing to behold, the best thing to hear, is a cliild with 
a thankful breast, wlu)se heart beats for his father. Wherefore my heart urges me to 
do what is good for Miueptali. I will cause them, to talk forever and eternally of Ms 
son, who has awakened his name to life." The filial zeal of Rameses so declined in 
his later years, that, true to his ruling propensity, he chiseled out his father's name 
and memorials in many places on the temple walls, and substituted his own in their 
place. Rameses II. is supposed to be the Pharaoh of the Israelitish Oppression, 
and his son, Mineptah II., to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 19 

troops, SO offended the native warriors that 200,000 of theni 
mutinied, and emigrated to Ethiopia. His successor, Necho 
(Pharaoh-Necho of the Scriptures), maintained a powerful 
fleet. Under his orders the Phoenician ships rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope.^ 

The internal prosperity of Egypt still continued, as is 
shown by the magnificent monuments of this period ; but 
the army was filled with mercenaries, and the last of the 
Pharaohs fell an easy prey to the fierce-fighting Persians 
under Cambyses. Egypt, like Babylon (p. 51), was now 
reduced to a Persian province governed by a satrap. 

2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Egyptian Society was divided into distinct classes, so that 
ordinarily no man could rise higher than the station in which 
he was born.2 The priestly and militaiy classes, which included 
the king, princes, and all men of rank, were far above the others. 

The King received the most exalted titles, and his authority was 
supposed to come du'ect from the gods. The courtiers, on approach- 
ing him, fell prostrate, rubbing the ground with their noses ; some- 
times, by his gracious consent, they were permitted to touch his 
sacred knee.^ That he might be kept pure, he was given from 
childhood only the choicest and most vhtuous companions, and no 

1 Twice daring this voyage, says Herodotus, the crews, fearing a want of food, 
landed, drew their ships on shore, sowed grain, and waited for a harvest. Tlie pupil 
will notice that this was over 2000 years before Vasco da Gama (Hist. U. S., p. 41), to 
whom is generally accorded the credit of first circumnavigating Africa. 

2 There seems to have been an exception in favor of talented scribes. " Neither 
descent nor family hampered the rising career of the clever. Many a monument con- 
secrated to the memory of some nobleman who hatl held high rank at court has the 
simple but laudatory inscription, ' His ancestors were unknown people.' "—Brugsch. 
Royal preferment was also without restriction. 

3 "When they had come before the king, their noses touched the ground, and 
their feet lay on the ground for joy ; they fell down to the ground, and with their 
hands they prayed to the king. Tlius they lay prostrate and touching the earth 
before the king, speaking thus: 'We are come before thee, the lord of heaven, lord 
of the earth, sun, life of the whole world, lord of time, creator of the harvest, dis- 
penser of breath to all men, animator of the gods, pillar of heaven, threshold of the 
earth, weigher of the balance of the two worlds,'" etc. (Inscription of Rameses II. 
at Abydus). 



20 



EGYPT. 



hii-ed servant was allowed to approach his person. His daily con- 
duct was governed by a code of rules laid down in the sacred 
books, which prescribed not only the hourly order and nature of 
his occupations, but limited even the kind mid quantity of his 
food. He was never suffered to forget his obligations ; and one 
of the offices of the High Priest at the daily sacrifice was to remind 
him of his duties, and, by citing the good works of his ancestors, 
to impress upon him the nobility of a well-ordered life. After 
death he was worshiped with the gods. 

Tlie Priests were the richest, the most powerful, and the only 
learned body of tlie country. They were not limited to sacred 
offices, and in their caste comprised all 
the mathematicians, scientists, lawyers, 
and physicians of the land. Those 
priests who '' excelled in \drtue and wis- 
dom " were initiated into the holy mys- 
teries, — a privilege which they shared 
only with the king and the prince-royal. 
Among the priesthood, as in the other 
classes, there were marked distinctions 
of rank. The High Priests held the 
most honorable station. Chief among 
them was the Prophet, who offered 
sacrifice and libation in the temple, 
wearing as his insignia a leopard-skin 
over his robes. The king himself often 
performed the duties of this office. The 
religious observancesof the priests were 
rigid. They had long fasts, bathed 
twice a day and twice in the night, and 
every third day were shaven from head to foot, the most devout 
using water which had been tasted by the sacred Ibis. Beans, pork, 
fish, onions, and various other articles of diet, were forbidden to 
them ; and on certain days, when a religious ceremony compelled 
every Egyptian to eat a fried fish before his door, the priests burned 
theirs instead. Their dress was of linen : woolen might be used for 
an outer, but never for an inner garment, nor could it be worn into 
a temple. The influence of the priests was immense, since they not 
only ruled the living, but were supposed to have power to open and 
shut the gates of eternal bliss to the dead. They received an ample 
income from the state, and had one third of the land free of tax, — 




EOYrriAN PTIOPHKT. 
(From Monument at Tiubes.) 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



21 



an inheritance which they claimed as a special gift from the god- 
dess Isis. 

The Military Class also possessed one third of the land, each 
soldier's share being about eight acres. The army, which numbered 
410,000 men, was well disciplined and thoroughly organized. It 
comprised archers, spearmen, swordsmen, clubmen, and shngers. 
Each soldier furnished his own equipments, and held himself in 
constant readiness for duty. He wore a metal coat of mail and a 
metal or cloth helmet, and carried a large shield made of ox-hide 
drawn over a wooden frame. The chariots, of which great use was 




UtiVl'TFAN WAR CIIAKIOT (TIIKI5KS). 

made in war, were sometimes richly ornamented and inlaid with 
gold. The king led the army, and was often accompanied by a 
favorite lion. 

Lotver Classes. — All the free population not belonging to the 
priesthood or the military was arbitrarily classified ; each trade or 
occupation having its own rank in the social scale, and inhabiting 
a certain quarter in the town, — a custom still observed in Cairo. 
Scribes and architects, whose profession gave them access to 
temples and palaces, and who had thus a chance to win royal favor, 
naturally stood highest. Swine-herds were the most despised of all 
men ; the Egyptian, like the Hebrew, Mohammedan, and Indian, 
considering the pig an unclean animal. Swine-herds were forbid- 
den to enter a temple. Aj^.the entire land of Egypt was owned by 



22 EGYPT. 

the king, the priests, and the soldiers, the lower classes could hold 
no real estate; but they had strong-ly marked degrees of importance, 
depending upon the relative rank of the trade to which they were 
born, and their business success. According to Herodotus, no 
artisan could engage in any other employment than the one to 
which he had been brought up. He also tells us that every man 
was obliged to have some regular means of subsistence, a written 
declaration of which was deposited periodically with the magis- 
trate. A false account or an unlawful business was punished by 
death. 

Writing. — Hieroglyphics'^ (sacred sculptures). — The earhest 

Egyptian wiiting was a series of object pictures analogous to that 

still used by the North American Indians (Brief Hist. U. S., p. 13). 

^ __„^ Gradually this primitive system 

^ I ^^^ ife- yw ^ (^^ was altered and abbreviated into 

• I • ^ • % ^ %^ (1) hieratic (priestly) writing, 

THii NAME OF EGYPT IN thc form lu whlch most Egyp- 

HiEROGLYPHics. tlau litcraturc is written, and 

which is read by first resolving it into the original hieroglyphs ; and 

(2) demotic (writing of the people), in which all traces of the original 

pictures are lost. During these changes many meanings became 

attached to one sign, so that the same hieroglyph might represent 

an idea, the symbol of an idea, or an abstract letter, syllable, or word. 

An Egyptian scribe used various devices to explain his meaning. 

To a hieroglyphic word or syllable he would append one or more 

of its letters ; then, as the letter-signs had different meanings, he 

1 So called by the Greeks, who tli<^uglit them to he mystic religious symhola 
ximlerstood only by the priests. Neitlier the Greeks nor Romans attempted to 
decipher them. The discovery of the Rosetta stone (1799) furnished the first clew to 
their reading. A French engineer, while digging intrenchments on the site of an old 
temple near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile (Brief Hist. France, p. 229), unearthed 
a black basalt tablet inscribed in three languages,— hieroglyphic, demotic, and 
Greek. It proved to be a decree made by the priests in the time of Ptolemy V. 
(196 B. c), whom it styled the "god Epiphanes," increasing his divine honors, and 
ordering that the command should be engraved in the three languages, and placed in 
all the chief temples. By a comparison of the Greek and Egyptian texts, a principle 
of interpretation was finally established. Hieroglyphics had hitherto been supposed 
to represent only ideas or symbols. Twenty-three years after the discovery of tlie 
Rosetta stone, the great French scholai- Frau90Js CliarapoUion announced that they 
express both ideas and sounds. The Egyptians inclosed their royal names and titles 
in an oval ring or cartouch. Out of the four cartouches, (i^[^^^\Pj Ptolemaios, 

C^n^VCJ P.ereuike, C^^^^^^VCl Kleopatra, an.l (^^Z^rXj 
Alexandres, Champollion obtained a partial alphabet, which was completed by 
subsequent analyses. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 23 

would add a picture of some object that would suggest the intended 
idea. Thus, for the word hread "^ ^ he would wiite the 
syllable ^^(/iq) then its complement ■* (9), and finally, as 
a determinative, give the picture of a loaf ((^ ). One would 
suppose that the form of the loaf would itself have been sufficient, 
but even that had several interpretations. In like manner the 
scribe appended the determinative 2| ^^* ^^^Y ^^ words sig- 
nifying actions of the mouth, as eating, laughing, sjjeaking, etc., but 
to those of the thought, as Jcnowing, judging, deciding. To under- 
stand hieroglyphics, a knowledge of the peculiar ideas of the Egyp- 
tians is also necessary. It is easy to see that ^3 means worship, 

and ^^ crime; but we should hardly interpret Im^ as son, 

or jIi as mother, unless we knew that geese were believed to 

possess a warm filial nature, and all vultures to be females. Besides 
these and other complications in hieroglyphic writing, there was no 
uniform way of arranging sentences. They were written both hori- 
zontally and perpendicularly ; sometimes part of a sentence was 
placed one way, and part the other; sometimes the words read from 
right to left, sometimes from left to right, and sometimes they were 
scattered about within a given space without any apparent order. 

Papyrus. — Books were written and government records kept on 
papyrus i (hence, paper) rolls. These were generally about ten 
inches wide and often one hundred and fifty feet long. They were 
written upon with a frayed reed clipped into black or red ink. As 
the government had the monopoly of the papyrus, it was very costly. 

1 The papyrns, or paper reed, wliicli flourished in ancient times so Inxuriantlj' that 
it formed jun^'les along the hanks of the Nile, is no longer found in Egypt. (" The 
paper reeds hy the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, . . , shall wither, be driven 
avra5% and be no more,"— Isa. xix. 7.) It had a large, tliree-sided, tapering stem, two 
to three inches broad at the base. The reed was prepared for use by peeling off tlie 
smooth bark, and cutting the inner mass of white pith lengthways into thin slices, 
which were laid side by side with their edges touching one another. A second layer 
having been placed transverselj' upon the first, and the whole sprinkled with the 
muddy Nile water, a heavy press was applied whicli united them into one mass. It 
was then dried, and cut into sheets of the required size. Pap.yrus was in use until the 
end of the 7th century A. i>., wlien it was superseded by parchment (prepared skins). 
The latter was also used in Egj-pt at a verj' early period ; and though it is generally 
supposed to have been invented by Kumenes, King of Pergamus, in the 2d century 
B. c, "records written upon skins and kept in the temple " are mentioned in the 
time of the XVIII"' djnasty, 1200 years before Eumenes (p. 15G). 



24 



EGYPT. 




bones of animals. 
Literature. — Booh of the Dead.— The most cele- 
brated Egyptian book is the ^^ Book of the Manifestation to Light," 
often called the '' Book of the Dead." It is a ritual for the use 
of the soul in its journeys i after death, and a copy more or less 



1 After cleath the soul was supposed to descend into the lower world, where, in the 
great Hall of Justice, before Osiris and his forty-two assessors (p. 34), it was weighed 
in the infallible scales of Truth. Tlie soul's defense before Osiris is elaboratelj^ de- 
tailed in the Ritual. If accepted, it became itself an " Osiris," and roamed the 
universe for three thousand years, always maintaining a mysterious connection with 
its mummied body, which it visited from time to time. In its wanderings it assumed 
different forms at will, and the Ritual gives instructions by means of which it could 
become a hawk, heron, lotus-flower, serpent, crocodile, etc., all emblems of Deity. 
Various incantations are also given by which it could vanquish the frightful mon- 
sters that assailed it in the nether world. The Soul, the Sliadow, and the Ka were at 
last re-united to the body in a blissful immoitality. The Ka (p. 38) was a man's 
mysterious "double," an ethereal counterpart distinct from the soul, which dwelt in 



THE CiViLiZATlON. ZO 

complete, according to the fortune of the deceased, was inclosed in 
the mummy-case. This strange book contains some sublime pas- 
sages, and many of its chapters date from the earliest antiquity. 
As suggestive of Egyptian morals, it is interesting to find in the 
soul's defense before Osiris such sentences as these : — 

"I have not been idle; I have not been intoxicated; I liave not told secrets ; I 
liave not told falselioods ; I have not defrauded ; I have not slandered; I have not 
caused tears; I have given food to the hungry, drink to tlie thirsty, and clothes to 
the naked.'* 

Phtah-ho'tep's Book. — Good old Prince Phtah-hotep, son of a 
king of the V*'^ dynasty, wrote a moral treatise full of excellent 
advice to the young people of 4000 years ago. This book, now 
preserved in Paris, is beUeved to be the oldest in the world. The 
following extracts are noticeable :— 

On Filial Obedience. "The obedient son shall grow old and obtain favor; thus 
have I, myself, become an old man on earth and have lived 110 years in favor with 
the king, and approved by my seniors." 

On Freedom from Arrogance. " If thou art become great, after thou hast been 
humble, and if thou hast amassed riches after poverty, being because of that the first 
in thy town; if thou art known for thy wealth and art become a great lord, let not 
thy heart become proud because of thy riches, for it is God who is the author of them. 
Despise not another who is as tliou wast ; be towards him as towards thy equal." 

On Cheerfulness. " Let thy face be cheerful as long as thou livest ; has any one 
come out of the coffin after having once entered it?" 

Miscellaneous ^oofe. —Several treatises on medicine have been 
deciphered. They generally abound in charms and adjurations. 
Works on rhetoric and mathematics, and various legal and po- 
litical documents, are extant. Epistolary coiTespondence is abun- 
dant. A letter addressed by a priest to one of the would-be poets 
of the time contains this wholesome criticism : — 

" It is verj'^ unimportant what flows over thy tongue, for tlij' compositions are 
very confused. Thou tearest the words to tatteis, just as it comes into tliy mind. 
Thou dost not take pains to find out their force for thyself. If thou rushest wildly 
forward thou wilt not succeed. I have struck out for thee tlie end of thy composi- 
tion, and I return to thee thy descriptions. It is a confused medle}' when one liears 
it; an unediicated person could not understand it. It is like a man from the low- 
lands speaking witli a man from Elephantine." 

A few works of fiction exist which belong to the XIP^' dynasty, 
and there are many beautiful hymns addressed to the different gods. 
A long and popular poem, the Epic of Fcntaur, which celebrated 

the tomb with his mummy while his .soul performed its appointed pilgrimage. The 
soul which was rejected by Osiri.s and his foity-two assessors, took tlie form of a pig 
or otlier unclean animal, aiul, if incorrigible, was finally annihilated. 



26 



EGYPT. 



the deeds of Rameses II., won the prize in its time as an heroic song, 
and was engraved on temple walls at Abydus, Luxor, Karnak, and 
the Ramesseum. It is sometimes styled '^The Egyptian Iliad." 
Education was under the control of the priesthood. Great 
attention was paid to mathematics 
and to writing, of which the Egyp- 
tians were especially fond. Geom- 
etry and mensuration were important, 
as the yearly inundation of the Nile 
produced constant disputes concern- 
ing property boundaries. In music, 
only those songs appointed by law 
were taught, the children being care- 
fully guarded from any of doubtful 
sentiment. As women were treated 
with great dignity and respect in 
Egypt, reigning as queens and serv- 
ing in the holiest offices of the temple, 
they probably shared in the advan- 
tages of schoohng. The common people had little education, 
except what pertained to their calling. Reading and writing were 
so difficult as to be considered great accomplishments. 

Monuments and Art. — Stupendous size and mysterious sym- 
bolism characterize all the monuments of this strange people. 
They built immense pyramids holding closely hidden chambers : 
gigantic temples ^ whose massive entrances, guarded by great stone 
statues, were approached by long avenues of colossal sphinxes ; vast 
temple-courts, areas, and halls in which were forests of carved and 
painted columns; and lofty obelisks, towers, and sitting statues,^ 




QUEKN AHIINC, KINO IX TKMfI.E 
SEIIVICK (TIIKI5ES). 



1 The temples were isolated by huge brick inclosures, and wore an air of solemn 
mystery. None but priests could enter the holy precincts. The Cireat Temple of 
Karnak (see ill. p. 9) was 1200 feet long by 360 wide; its Great Hall, 340 by 170 feet, 
contained 134 painted columns, some of them 70 feet high and 12 feet in diameter. 
This temple was joined to one at Luxor by an avenue of sphinxes two miles long, 
other famous monuments are the Memnonium, built by Amunoph III. ; the Rames- 
«eMm, by Rameses II.; andtheJfertine«-^bo?t palace of Rameses III. The construction 
and various reparations of some of tliese vast piles of stone cover immense periods of 
time. Excavations made in 1887 at Tell-Basta, the ancient Bubastis, show tliat a 
temple to Pasht, the cat-headed goddess (p. 30), existed there from the time of the 
Pyramid dynasty down to 150 B. C. 

2 Rameses II. reared gigantic self-statues all over Egypt. A wall-painting discov- 
ered at Luxor in 1891 shows six colossi in front of the temple at its dedication. His 
sitting statue at the Memnonium was 22 feet across the shoulders, and weighed nearly 
900 tons; his standing statue at Tania towered 92 feet above the plain. 



THE CIVILIZATION 



27 



which still endui'e, though desert winds and drifting sands have 
beaten upon them for thousands of years. 

Sculpture, Painting, Statuary. — Egyptian granite is so hard 
that it is cut with difficulty by the best steel tools of to-day ; yet 
the ancient sculptures are sometimes graven to the depth of 
several inches, and show an exquisite finish and accuracy of detail. 
Painting was usually combined with sculpture, the natural hue of 
the objects represented being crudely imitated. Blue, red, green, 
black, yellow, and white were the principal colors. Red, which 
typified the sun, and blue, the color of the sky reflected in the 
Nile, were sacred tints. Tombs, which were cut in the solid rock, 
had no outer ornamentation, but the interior was gayly painted 
with scenes from every-day life. Sarcophagi and 
the walls which inclosed temples were covered 
both inside and outside with scenes or inscrip- 
tions. The painted scenes were sometimes taken 
from the " Book of the Dead " ; often they were 
vivid delineations of the royal conquests. The 
proportion, form, color, and expression of every 
statue were fixed by laws prescribed by the 
priests, the effect most sought being that of im- 
movable repose. 1 A wooden statue found at 
Sakkarah, and belonging to one of the earliest 
dynasties, is remarkable for its fine expression 
and evident effort at portraiture.^ 

Mode of Drawing, Perspective. — In drawing the 
human form, the entke body was traced, after which the drapery 
was added (see cut). Several artists were employed on one picture. 
The first drew squares of a definite size, upon which he sketched in 
red an outline of the desired figure ; the next corrected and improved 
it in black ; the sculptor then followed with his chisel and other 
tools ; and finally the most important artist of all laid on the pre- 
scribed colors. The king was di-awn on a much larger scale than his 
subjects, his dignity being suggested by his colossal size. Gods and 

1 All Egyptian statues liave a stiff, rigid pose, and are generally fastened at the 
back to a pillar. In standing statues the arms are held close to the sides ; in seated, 
the knees are pressed together, and the hands spread out upon them, palms down. 

2 When Mariette discovered in the Memphite necropolis this now famous statue of 
a man standing and holding in his hand the baton of authority, the fellahs (peasants) 
saw in it a wonderful resemblance to tlieir own rustic tax-assessor, the dignitary of 
the place. An astonished fellah shouted out, " It's the Sheikh-el-Beled ! " Ilis com- 
panions took up the cry, and the statue has been called by that name ever since. This 
incident illustrates the persistency of national type. 




SOX OF RAMESES HI. 

(Thebes.) 



28 



EGYPT. 



goddesses were frequently represented with the head of an animal 
on a human form. There was no idea of perspective, and the general 
effect of an Egyptian painted scene was that of grotesque stiffness. 
Practical Arts and Inventions. — We have seen how the 
Egyptians excelled in cutting gi'anite. Steel was perhaps in use 
as early as the IV"' dynasty, as pictures on the Memphite tombs 
seem to represent butchers sharpening their knives on a bar of 
that metal. Great skill was shown in alloying, casting, and sol- 
dering metals. Some of their bronze implements, though buried 
for ages, and since exposed to the damp of European climates, 
are still smooth and bright. They possessed the art of imparting 
elasticity to bronze or brass, and of overlaying bronze with a 
rich green by means of acids. 

Glass bottles are represented in the earliest sculptures, and 
the Egyptians had their own secrets in coloring, which the best 
Venetian glass-makers of to-day are unable to discover. Their glass 
mosaics were so delicately ornamented that some of the feathers of 
birds and other details can be made out only with a lens, which 
would imply that this means of magnifying was used in Egypt. 
Gems and precious stones were successfully imitated in glass j 
and Wilkinson says, ^' The mock pearls found by me in Thebes 
were so well counterfeited that even now 
it is difficult with a strong lens to detect 
the imposition." 

Goldsmiths washing and working gold 
are seen on monuments of the IV"^ dy- 
nasty; and gold and silver wire were 
woven into cloth and used in embroidery 
as early as the Xllt'^ dynasty. Gold rings, 
bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings, 
vases, and statues were common in the 
same age, the cups being often beauti- 
fully engraved and studded with precious 
stones. Objects of art were sometimes 
made of silver or bronze inlaid with gold, 
or of baser metals gilded so as to give 
the effect of solid gold. 

Veneering was extensively practiced, 
and in sculptures over 3300 years old workmen are seen with glue- 
pot on the fire, fastening the rare woods to the common sycamore 
and acacia. In cabinet-work Egypt excelled, and liouse-furni- 
ture assumed graceful and elegant forms. 




:vrriAN i;a!^y-chai 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



29 



Flax and Cotton were <i:i-()\vn, ;iii(l ixv^'nt perfection was reached 
in spinning and weavinj^'. [jincn clotli «>f exquisite texture has 
been found in Meniphite touil>s, and the strong flax-strings used 




KG V I'll AN I'urc 



for fowling-nets were so finely spun that it was said '^a man 
could eaiTy nets enough to surround a whole wood." Finally, 
wooden hoes, shovels, forks, and plows, toothed sickles, and drags 

aided the farmer 
in his work ; the 
carpenter had his 
ax, hammer, file, 
adz, hand - saw, 
chisel, di'ill, plane, 
right angle, ruler, 
and plummet; the 
glass-worker and 
gem-cutter used 
icGYi'TiAN MUSICIANS cmBry powder, if 

(THE GUITAR, HAKP, AND DOUBLE I'll'K). j^Ot a lapidary's 

wheel ; the potter had his wheel upon which he worked the clay 
after he had kneaded it with his feet ; the public weigher had 
stamped weights and measures, and delicate scales for balancing 
the gold and silver rings used as currency; musicians played on 
pipes, ha'rps, flutes,^ guitars, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals; 
while di-um and trumpet cheered the soldier in his march. 




1 In 1889 several flutes were fonnd in an Ej^yptiau tomb. These instruments, which 
are over three thousand years old, give the exact sounds of our diatonic scale. 



30 EGYPT. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Egyptians were mild in disposition, 
polite in manners, reverential to their elders and superiors, extremely 
loyal and patriotic, and intensely religious. They have been called 
a gloomy people, but their sculptures reveal a keen sense of humor 
and love of caricature. They were especially fond of ceremonies and of 
festivals. Their religion formed a part of their every-day life, and 
was interwoven with all their customs. 

Beligion. — The Egyptian priests believed in one invisible, over- 
ruling, self-created God ; the immortality of the soul ; a judgment 
after death ; the final annihilation of the wicked ; and the ultimate 
absorption of the good into the eternal Deity. 

''God created his own members, which are the gods,'^ they said; 
and so out of one great God grew a host of lesser ones, regarded by 
the priests as only His attributes and manifestations, but becoming to 
the people distinct and separate divinities. Natural objects and prin- 
ciples were thus deified, — the soil, the sky, the east, the west, even 
the general idea of time and space. Each month and day had its own 
god. The Nile, as the source of the country's fertility, was especially 
revered ; and the conflict of God with sin was seen in the life-giving 
river, and the barren, encroaching desert. 

TJie Sun, especially in later times, was the great exponent of 
Deity. His mysterious disappearance each night, and his return every 
morning to roll over the heavens with all the splendor of the pre- 
ceding day, were events full of sj^mbolic meaning. The rising sun 
was the beautiful young god Horus. In his mid-day glory he was Ea, 
as he neared the western horizon he became Tum, and during the 
night he was Amun. Each, of these gods, as well as the many others 
connected with the sun, had his own specific character. This complex 
sun-god was imagined to float through the sky in a boat, accompanied 
by the souls of the Supremely Blest, and at night to pass into the 
regions of the dead. 

Triad of Orders. — There were three orders of gods. The first i 

1 In Thebes, Amun-Ea (tlie "Concealed God" or " Absolnte Spirit") headed the 
deities of the fust order. He was represented as having the head of a ram, the 
hieroglyphic of a ram signifying also concealment. In Memphis, PMaU (" Fatlier 
of the Beginnings"), the Creator, was chief ; his symbol was the Scarabcens, or beetle, 
an image of which was placed on the heart of everj^ ninmniy. Phtali was father of 
lia, the sun-god. Ila was, in the mystic sense, that which is to-day, tlie existing 
present. Tlie hawk was his emblem. Paslit, his sister, one of tlie personifications 
of the sun's strong rays, sometimes healthful, sometimes baneful, was botli loved and 
feared. She was especially worshiped at Bnbastis: but her statues, having the head 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



31 



was for the priesthood, and represented the ideal and spiritual part of 
the religion ; the second impersonated human faculties and powers; 
and the third — the most popular of all among tlie people — was made 
up of forms and forces in nature. 

Triads of Gods. — Each town or city had its specially honored triad 
of deities to whom its temples were dedicated. The triads often con- 
sisted of father, mother, and son, but sometimes of two gods and a 
king. Osiris, w^ho with Isis and 
Horns formed the most celebrated 
of these triads, was worshiped 
throughout the land. So popular 
were these deities that it has been 
said, " With the exception of Amun 
and Neph, they comprise all Egyp- 
tian mythology." l 

Animal Worship. — As early as 
the 11^ dynasty certain animals 
had come to be regarded as em- 
blems or even incarnations of the 
gods. The bull Apis, whose tem- 
ple was at Memphis, was sup- 
posed to be inhabited by Osiris 

himself, and the sacred presence of the god to be attested by cer- 
tain marks on the body of the animal. Apis was consulted as an 




15KONZE FIGUUE OK APIS. 



of a cat, are common all over Egypt. Nepfi, often confounded with Amun, and, like 
him, wearing the ram's head, was the Divine Breath or Spirit pervading matter; 
sheep were sacred to liim. Tlioth, son of Neph, was god of intelligence; tlie ibis 
was his emblem. Sate, the wife of Neph and one of the forms of Isis, was the god- 
dess of vigilance ; she was the eastern sky waiting for the morning sun. Athor, 
goddess of love, was the beautiful western sky, wife of the evening sun, taking the 
wearied traveler to rest in her arms after each day's labor ; the cow was her emblem. 
Neith, wife of Phtah, was goddess of wisdom ; she was the night skj' which induces 
reflection. 3Iaut, the Mother Goddess and greatest of the sky divinities,— which 
were all feminine,— was the cool night sky tenderlj^ brooding over the hot, exhausted 
earth ; the shrew-mouse was sacred to her. TypJion was the common enemj' of all 
the other gods ; his emblems were the pig, the ass, and the hippopotamus. 

1 It was related that Osiris once went about the earth doing good ; that he was 
slain by Set (Typhon), his brother ; that his Avife, Isis, by prayers and invocations, 
assisted in his resurrection; and that finally Ilorus, his son, avenged his wrongs 
and destroj'ed Set. In this myth Osiris represents Divine Goodness; Isis is the 
Love of Goodness ; Set, tlie principle of Evil ; and Horus, Divine Triumph. Osiris 
had a multitude of characters. He was the Nile ; he was the sun ; he was the judge 
of the dead ; from him all souls emanated, and in him all Justified souls were swal- 
lowed up at last. To know " the mysteries of Osiris " was the glory of the priesthood. 
Isis, too, appeared in many forms, and was called by the Greeks " she of the ten- 
thousand names." Mystic legends made lier the mother, wife, sister, and daughter 
of Osiris ; while Horus was their son and brother, and was Osiris himself. 



32 EGYPT. 

oracle, and his breath was said to confer upon children the gift of 
prophecy. When an Apis died, great was the mourning until the 
priests found his successor, after which the rejoicing was equally 
demonstrative. The cost of burying the Apis was so great as some- 
times to ruin the officials who had him in charge, l The calf Mnevis 
at Heliopolis, and the white cow of Athor at Athribis, were also rev- 
erenced as incarnations of Deity. Other animals were considered as 
only emblems. Of these, the hawk, ape, ibis, cat, 2 and asp were every- 
where worshiped; but crocodiles, dogs, jackals, frogs, beetles, and 
shrew-mice, as well as certain plants and vegetables, were venerated 
in different sections of the country. Those sacred in one nome were 
often in others hated and hunted or used for food. Thus, at Thebes 
the crocodile and the sheep were worshiped, while the goat was 
eaten ; at Mendes the sheep was eaten and the goat worshiped ; and 
at Apollinopolis the crocodile was so abhorred as an emblem of the 
evil spirit, that the people set apart an especial day to hunt and kill 
as many crocodiles as possible, throwing the dead bodies before the 
temple of their own god. 

The crocodile was principally worshiped about Lake Moeris in the 
Fayoom. A chosen number of these animals was kept in the tem- 
ples, where they were given elegant apartments, and treated to every 
luxury, at public expense. Let us imagine a crocodile fresh from 
a warm, sumptuous bath, anointed with the most precious oint- 
ments, and perfumed with fragrant odors, its head and neck glittering 
with jeweled ear-rings and necklace, and its feet with bracelets, wal- 
lowing on a rich and costly carpet to receive the worship of intelligent 
human beings. Its death was mourned as a public calamity ; its body, 
wrapped in linen, was carried to the embalmers, attended by a train of 
people, weeping, and beating their breasts in grief ; then, having been 
expensively embalmed and bandaged in gayly colored mummy-cloths, 
amid imposing ceremonies it was laid away in its rock sepulcher. 

Embalming. — This art was a secret known only to those priests 



1 Ancient antliovities state that no Apis -was allowed to live over twentj-^-tive 
years. If he attained that age, he was drowned with great ceremony in the Nile. 
The following inscription upon a recently discovered memorial stone erected to an 
Apis of the XXI I' dj'uasty, shows that at least one Apis exceeded that age : " This is 
the day on which the god was carried to his rest in the beautiful region of the west, 
and was laid in the grave, in his everlasting house and in liis eternal abode." . . 

" His glory was sought for in all places. After many months he was found in the 
temple of Phtah, beside his father, the Memphian god Phtah." . . . "The full 
age of this god was 26 years." 

2 When a cat died in any private dwelling the inmates shaved their eyebrows; 
when a dog died, they shaved their entire bodies. Tlie killing of a cat, even acci- 
dentally, was reckoned a capital otteuse. All sacred animals were embalmed, aud 
buried with impressive ceremonies. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



33 



who lijiil it in cliaifjje. Tlu' mumiiiy was more or le.ss elaborately pre- 
pared, according to the wealth and station of the deceased. In the 
expensive process 



f^ 




w^^miimm 



MLMMV IN UANDK. 



most 

the brain and intestines 
were extracted, cleansed 
with palm-wine and aro- 
matic spices, and either 
retmnied to the body or 
deposited in vases which 

were placed in the tomb with the coffin. ^ The body was also cleansed, 
and filled with a mixture of resin and aromatics, after which it was 
kept in niter for seventy days. It was then wrapped in bands of fine 
linen smeared on the inner side with gmn. There were sometimes a 
thousand yards of bandages on one mummy. A thick pax)>i"us case, 
fitted while damp to the exact shape of the bandaged body, next 
inclosed it. This case was richly painted and ornamented, the hair 
and features of the deceased being imitated, and eyes inlaid with 
brilliant enamel inserted. Sometimes the face was covered with 
heavy gold leaf. Often a network of colored beads was spread over 
the body, and a winged scarabteus (p. 30) placed upon the breast. A 
long line of hieroglyphics extending down the front told the name and 
quality of the departed. The inner case was inclosed in three other 




Vl'TlAN !5AUtOl'llA(;i is 



eases of the same form, all richly painted in different patterns. A 
wooden or carved stone sarcophagus was the final receptacle in the 
tomb. 2 



1 "So careful were the Egyptians to show proper respect to all that belonged to 
the human bodj', that even the sawdust of the floor where they cleansed it was tied 
up in small linen bags, which, to the number of twenty or thirty, were deposited in 
vases, and buried near the tom\)."—Wilkimon. 

2 In a less expensive mode of embalming, the internal parts were dissolved by- 
oil of cedar, after which the body was salted with niter, as before. The ordinary 



34 



EGYPT. 



Burial. — When any person died, all the women of the house left 
the body and ran out into the streets, wailing, and throwing dust upon 
their heads. Their friends and relatives joined them as they went, 
and if the deceased was a person of quality, others accompanied them 
out of respect. Having thus advertised the death, they returned home 
and sent the body to the embalmers. During the entire period of its 
absence they kept up an ostentatious show of grief, sitting unwashed 
and unshaven, in soiled and torn garments, 
singing dirges and making lamentation. 
After the body was restored to them, if 
they wished to delay its burial, they placed 
it in a movable wooden closet standing 
against the wall of the principal room in 
the house. Here, morning and evening, 
the members of the family came to weep 
over and embrace it, making offerings to 
the gods in its behalf. Occasionally it was 
brought out to join in festivities given in 
its honor (p. 42). The time having come 
to entomb it, an imposing procession was 
formed, in the midst of which the mummy 
was drawn upright on a sledge to the sacred 
lake adjoining every large city. At this 
point forty-two chosen officials — emblem- 
atical of the forty-two judges in the court 
of Osiris (p. 24) — formed a semicircle around the mummy, and for- 
mal inquiries were made as to its past life and character. If no ac- 
cusation was heard, an eulogium was pronounced, and the body was 
passed over the lake. If, however, an evil life was proven, the lake 
could not be crossed, and the distressed friends were compelled to leave 
the body of their disgraced relative unburied, or to carry it home, and 
Wait till their gifts and devotions, united to the prayers of the priest- 
hood, should pacify the gods. Every Egyptian, the king included, was 
subjected to the "trial of the dead," and to be refused interment was 
the greatest possible dishonor. The best security a creditor could have 
was a mortgage on the mummies of his debtor's ancestors. If the debt 
were not paid, the delinquent forfeited his own burial and that of his 
entire family. 




A WOMAN EMIiRACINO HER 

IIUbl{ANI>\S JIUMMY. 

(Thobes.; 



mummy-cloth was coarse, resembling our sacking. The bodies of the poor were 
simply cleansed and salted, or submerged in liquid pitch. These black, dry, heavy, 
bad-smelling relics are now used by the fellahs for fuel. It is a fact that few mum- 
mies of children have been discovered. The priests had the mout)poly of everything 
connected with embalming and burial, and they not only resold tombs which had 
been occupied, but even traflacked in second-hand mummy-cases. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



35 



The mummies of the poorer classes were deposited in pits in the 
plain or in recesses cut in the rock, and then closed up with masonry ; 
those of the lowest orders were wrapped in coarse cloth mats, or a 
bundle of palm-sticks, and buried in the earth or huddled into the 




THE FLNEUAL OK A MLMMY (AFTKU IMUnOEMAN). 



general repository. Various articles were placed in the tombs, espe- 
cially images of the deceased person, and utensils connected with liis 
profession or trade (p. 38). Among the higher classes these objects 
were often of gi'eat value, and included elegant vases, jewelry, and 
important papyri. 



SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 



Scene I. — Pyramid Building (IV^ii dynasty). l — Let us imagine 
ourselves in Egypt about 2400 B. c. It is the middle of November. The 
Nile, which, after its yearly custom,- began to rise in June, changing 
its color rapidly from a turbid red to a slimy green and then again to 
red, overflowed its banks in early August, and, spreading its waters 
on either side, made the country to look like an immense lake dotted 
with islands. For the last month it has been gradually creeping back 
to its winter banks, leaving everywhere behind it a fresh layer of rich 
brown slime. Already the farmers are out with their Hght wooden 

1 Over seventy Egyptian pyramids have been discovered and explored, all situated 
on the edge of the desert, west of the Nile. The three Great Pyramids of (iizeh Imilt 
by Khufu and his successors are the most celebrated. The Cireat Pyramid built in 
steps at Sakkarah, and said to date from the I" or 11"* dynasty, is believed by many 
to be the oldest monument in Egypt. 
BGH-3 



36 



EGYPT. 




A jModern shadoof. 



plows and hoes, or are harrowing with bushes the moist mud on 
which the seed has been thrown broadcast, and which is to be tram- 
pled down by the herds 
driven in for the piu'- 
pose. The first crop of 
clover is nearing its har- 
vest ; by proper care and 
a persistent use of the 
shadoof, 1 three more 
crops will be gathered 
from the same ground. 
The crocodile and the 
hippopotamus haunt the 
river shores ; in the 
desert the wolf, jackal, 
and hyena prowl ; but 
the greatest scourge and 
torment of the valley are the endless swarms of flies and gnats which 
rise from the mud of the subsiding Nile. 

King Khufu of the IV^i dynasty is now on the throne, and the 
Great Pyramid, his intended tomb, is in process of erection near Mem- 
phis, the city founded by Menes three hundred years ago. One hun- 
dred thousand dusky men are toiling under a burning sun, now 
quarrying in the limestone rock of the Arabian hills, now tugging at 
creaking ropes and rollers, straining every nerve and muscle under the 
rods of hard overseers, as along the solid causeway 2 and up the inclined 
plane they drag the gigantic stones they are to set in place. Occasion- 
ally a deta.chment is sent up the river in boats to Syene to bring fine 
red granite, which is to be polished for casings to the inner passages 
and chambers. Not a moment is lost from work save when they sit 
down in companies on the hot sand to eat their government rations of 
''radishes, onions, and garlics," the aggi*egate cost of which is to be 
duly inscribed upon the pyramid itself. So exhausting is this forced 
and unpaid labor that four times a year a fresh levy is needed to take 
the place of the worn-out toilers. When this pyramid is finished, — and 
it will continue to grow as long as the king shall live, 3 — it will stand 



1 The pole and bucket with which water was drawn from the Nile to irrigate the 
land. It is still in use in Egypt. 

2 It took tell years to build the causeway whereon the stone was brovight. The 
construction of the pyramid required twenty years more. Herodotus thought the 
iauseway as great a work as the py ramid itself, and described it as built of polished 
stone, and ornamented with carvings of animals. 

3 As soon as a Pharaoh mounted his throne, he gave orders to some nobleman to 
plan th« work and cut the stone for the royal tomb. The kernel of the future edifice 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 37 

480 feet high, with a base covering 13 acres. Its sides, which exactly 
face the four cardinal points, will be cased with highly polished stone 
fitted into the angles of the steps ; the workmen beginning at the apex 
and working downward, leaving behind them a smooth, glassy sur- 
face which cannot be scaled. There will be two sepulchral chambers 
with passages leading thereto, and five smaller chambers,! built to 
relieve the pressure of so great a mass of stone. The king's chamber, 
which is situated in the center of the pyramid and is to hold the royal 
sarcophagus, will be ventilated by air-shafts, and defended by a suc- 
cession of granite portcullises. But Khufu will not rest here, for his 
oppression and alleged impiety have so angered the people that they 
will bury him elsewhere, leaving his magnificently planned tomb, with 
its empty sarcophagus, to be wondered and speculated over, thousands 
of years after his ambitious heart has ceased to beat. 

Meantime other great public works are in progress. 2 Across the 
arm of the Red Sea, on the peninsula of Sinai, — not sacred Sinai yet, 
for there are centuries to come before Moses,— are the king's copper 
and turquoise mines. Sculpture is far advanced ; and images of gold, 
bronze, ivory, and ebony are presented to the gods. The whole land 
swarms with a rapidly increasing population; but food is abundant, ^^ 
raiment little more than a name, and lodging free on the warm earth. 
Besides, the numbers are kept down by a royal policy which rears 
enormous monuments at the price of flesh and blood. The over- 
wrought gangs constantly sink under their burdens, and hasten on to 
crowd the common mummy-pits in the limestone hills. 



was raised on the limestone soil of the desert in the form of a small pyramid built 
in steps, of which the well constructed and finished interior formed the king's eternal 
dwelling, with the stone sarcophagus lying on the rocky floor. A second covering 
was added, stone by stone, on the outside of this kernel, a third to this second, and 
to thi« a fourth, the mass growing greater the longer the king lived. Every pyramid 
had iii own proper name. That of Khufu bore a title of honor, "The Lights."— 
Brugsch's Egypt. 

1 In one of these small chambers. Colonel Vyse, who was the first to enter tliem, 
found the royal name scrawled in red ocher on the stones, as if done by some idle 
overseer in the quarry. It is a proof of the architectural skill of the Egyptians, that 
in such a mass of stone they could construct chambers and passages which, with a 
weight of millions of tons pressing upon them, should preserve their shape without 
crack or flaw for thousands of years. 

2 Near Khufu's Pyramid is the Great Sphinx, a massive union of solid rock and 
clumsy masonry, 146 feet long. This recumbent, human-headed lion, an image of the 
sun-god Horus, is believed to be older than tlie pyramid itself. Under the sand close 
by lies a vast temple constructed of enormous blocks of black or rose-colored granite 
and oriental alabaster without sciilpturo or ornament. Here, in a well, were found 
fragments of splendid statues of Sliafra, the successor of Khufu. 

3 "The whole expense of a child from infancy to manhood," says Diodorus, "ia 
not more than twenty drachmas" (about four dollars). 



38 EGYPT. 

Scene II. — A Lord of the IV*^ Dynasty has large estates managed 
by a host of trained servants. He is not only provided with baker, 
butler, barber, and other household domestics, but with tailor, sail- 
maker, goldsmith, tile-glazer, potter, and glass-blower, i His musi- 
cians, with their harps, pipes, and flutes, his acrobats, pet dogs, and 
apes, amuse his leism-e hours. He has his favorite games of chance or 
skill, which, if he is too indolent to play himself, his slaves play in his 
presence. He is passionately fond of hunting, and of fishing in the 
numerous canals which intersect the country and are fed from the 
Nile. He has small papyrus canoes, and also large, square-sailed, 
double-masted boats, in which he sometimes takes out his wife and 
children for a moonlight sail upon the river ; his harpers sitting cross- 
legged at the end of the boat, and playing the popular Egyptian airs. 
But he does not venture out into the Mediterranean with his boats. 
He has a horror of the sea, and to go into that impure region would 
be a religious defilement. On land he rides in a seat strapped between 
two asses. He has never heard of horses or chariots, nor will they 
appear in Egypt for a thousand years to come. He wears a white 
linen robe, a gold collar, bracelets and anklets, but no sandals. For 
his table he has wheaten or barley bread, beef, game, fruits and 
vegetables, beer, wine, and milk. His scribes keep careful record of 
his flocks and herds, his tame antelopes, storks, and geese, writing 
with a reed pen on a papyrus scroll. He has his tomb cut in the rocks 
near the royal pyramid, where he sometimes goes to oversee the 
sculptors and painters who are ornamenting the walls of its entrance- 
chambers with pictures 2 of his dignities, riches, pleasures, and manner 
of life. Directly below these painted rooms, perhaps at a depth of sev- 
enty feet, is the carefully hidden mummy-pit. Here, in recesses cut 



1 Such a household must have been a center of iiractical education ; and an enter- 
prising Egyptian bOJ^ dearly as he loved his games of ball and wrestling, was likely 
to be well versed in the processes of every trade. (See Brief Hist. France, p. 33.) 

2 These pictures, with various articles stored in the tomb, served a magical 
purpose, for tlie benefit of the Ka (p. 24). In the paintings on tlie walls, the Ka saw 
himself going to the chase, and he went to the chase; eating and drinking with his 
wife, and he ate and drank with her. Tlie terra-cotta statuettes, armed with hoe, flail, 
and seed-sack, worked the fields, drew the water, and reaped the grain, in his phantom 
life of industry ; while the painted workmen on tlie papyri made his shoes, cooked his 
food, and carried him to hunt in tlie desert or to fish in the marshes. Besides the 
periodical offerings of fresh baked meats, wine, and fruits brought by ministering 
friends, the Ka was sometimes furnished with mummied meats packed in sealed 
hampers; and, to make sure of an abundance, a magical formula, placed on the 
funerary tablet in the entrance-chamber of the tomb, insured to him ghostly supplies 
of "thousands of loaves, thousands of beeves, thousands of geese," etc., down to the 
end of the weary cycle of waiting. If, finally, when that glad hour came, the mummy 
had perished, its place could be supplied by a portrait statue, which was snugly con- 
cealed behind the solid masonry. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 39 

in the sides and bottom, will finally be placed the mninmies of this 
lord and his family. Meantime lie strives to be true to his gods, 
obedient to his king, and affectionate to his houseliold ; for thus he 
hopes to pass the rigid ordeals which follow death, and to rest at last 
in the Hoiit of the Sun. 

Scene III. — Amencmlic III., the Luhyrinth, and Lake Marls'^ (Xllf' 
dynasty, about B. c. 2080-1900). — Over four centuries have passed since 
Khufu's Pyramid was finished, and now toward the southwest, on an 
oasis in the midst of the desert, we see rising a magnificent group of 
palaces, built about an immense twelve-courted rectangle. The stone 
roofs and walls are covered with carvings. Here are three thousand 
chambers, large and small, half of which are under gi-ound and are 
to sepulcher mighty kings and sacred crocodiles. This marvelous 
Labyrinth, where one "passes from courts into chambers, and from 
chambers into colonnades, from colonnades into fresh houses, and from 
these into courts unseen before," is surrounded by a single wall, and 
incloses three sides of the large central rectangle. On the fourth side 
stands a pyramid, engraven with large hieroglyphics, and entered by 
a subterranean passage. Amenemhe III. does not leave his identity 
as the founder of this grand palace tomb to the chance scrawls of a 
quarry workman, as did Khufu with his pyramid, but has his cart ouch 
properly inscribed on the building-stones. 

Lake Maris. — There have been some gi-ievous famines 2 iu Egypt 
produced by the variable inundations of the Nile, and Amenemhe 



1 These descriptions of the Labyrinth and Lake Moeris are founded on Herodotus. 
Strabo located the Labyrinth "between two pyramids." Prof. Petrie, who spent 
nearly three years (1888-90) exploring the Fayooni, states that lie " found between two 
pyramidal structures an immense bed of fine white limestone concrete, upon wliich 
lie thousands of tons of limestone and red granite, fragments of the destroyed walls of 
some enormous structure." Profs. Saj^ce and INIaspero believe that in " Lake Mceris " 
Herodotus saw only an overflow into a natural dei)ression. All Egyptologists concede, 
however, that Amenemhat III., iu some way, greatly increased the amount of arable 
land in this region, Petrie found here several inscribed fragments of Ameuemhat's 
statues and i)yramidal pedestals. 

2 "All Egypt is the gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus. The river, however, was 
not left to overflow its banks without restrictions. The whole coxmtry was inter- 
sected with canals and j)r<)tected bj' dikes, Menes himself, according to Herodotus, 
having constructed a dike and turned aside the course of the Nile in order to found 
Memphis. The rise of the river was closely watched, and was measured by " Nilom- 
eters" in various parts of the country; and the proper moment for cutting away 
the dams and opening the canals was awaited with intense anxiety, and decided by 
auspicious omens. "A rise of fcmrteen cubits caused joy, fifteen security, sixteen de- 
liglit." Twelve cubits foretold a famine. An excessive Nile was as disastrous as a 
deficient one. A "Good Nile" brought harvests so abundant as to make Egyptiau 
storehouses the granary of the eastern world. For tliis reason, when tlie famine 
arose in Canaan, Abram and Sarai came to Egypt, probably during the reigu of the 
XI"- dynasty. 



40 



EGYPT, 



causes to be constructed not far from the Labyrinthine Palace a gigan- 
tic lake, with one canal leading to the great river, and another ter- 
minating in a natural lake still farther to the west. 
He thus diverts the waters of an excessive Nile, and 
hoards those of a deficient one to be used at need on 
the neighboring lands. He stocks this lake with fish, 
and so provides for the future queens of Egypt an 
annual revenue of over $200,000 for pin-money. The 
banks of Lake Mosris are adorned with orchards, vine- 
yards, and gardens, won by its waters from the sur- 
rounding desert. Toward the center of the lake, rising 
three hundred feet above its surface, stand two pyra- 
mids, and on the apex of each sits a majestic stone 
figure. But pyi-amid-building is going out of favor in 
Egypt, and the fashion of obelisks has come in. These 
are made of single blocks of beautiful red gi-anite from 
Syene, and are covered with delicately carved hiero- 
glyphs. Memphis is losing her precedence. Thebes 
is shining in her first glory, and the Temple of Kar- 
nak, which is to become the most splendid of all times 
and countries, is begun ; while, down the river, at 
Beni Hassan, i the powerful princes have built tombs 
' ^'^-'-^ '^^o- which, like cheerful homes, spread their pillared 
oiiEusK. porches in the eastern rocky heights. 

Scene IV. — A Tkehan Dinner- Party (time of Ra- 
meses II., 1311-1245 b. c). — The Labyrinth has stood for nearly 
seven centuries. During this time the shepherd kings have had their 
sway and been expelled. The XVIIPii dynasty, including the long and 




1 The tombs of Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt are remarliable for tlieir archi- 
tecture, the prototype of the Grecian Doric (p. 182). They are also noticeable for 
being east of the Nile, and for not being concealed, as was the almost universal 
custom. A recent visitor to these tombs writes: "Having ascended the broad road 
which leads gradually up to the entrances, we found ourselves on a sort of platform 
cut in the cliff nearly half-way to the top, and saw before us about thirty high and 
wide doorways, each leading into one chamber or more, excavated in the solid rock. 
The first we entered was a large square room, with an open pit at one end,— tlie 
mnmmy-pit; and every inch of the walls was covered with pictures. Coming into 
this tomb was like getting hold of a very old picture-book, which said in the begin- 
ning, 'Open me and 1 will tell you what people did a long time ago.' Every group 
of figures told a separate story, and one could pass on from group to group till a 
whole life was unfolded. Whenever we could find a spot where the painted plaster 
had not been blackened or roughened, we were surprised at the variety of the colors, 
— delicate lilacs and vivid crimsons and many shades of green." Though these pic- 
tures on the walls of tombs were supposed to serve the dead, they were no less repre- 
sentations of real life. Were it not for them, we should never liave learned the secrets 
of those homes along the Nile where people lived, loved, and died overfour thousand 
years ago. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 41 

brilliant reign of Thothmes III., lias passed away, leaving behind it 
temples, obelisks, and tombs of marvelous magnificence. Thebes is at 
the height of that architectural triumphwhich is to make her the won- 
der of succeeding ages. Meantime, what of the people ? Let us invite 
ourselves to a dinner-party in Theban high life. The time is mid-day, 
and the guests are arriving on foot, in palanquins borne by servants, 
and in chariots, A high wall, painted in panels, surrounds the fashion- 
able villa, and on an obelisk near by is inscribed the name of the owner. 
We enter the grounds by a folding-gate flanked with lofty towers. 
At the end of a broad avenue bordered by rows of trees and spacious 
water-tanks stands a stuccoed brick i mansion, over the door of which 
we read in hieroglyphics, '' The Good House." The building is made 
airy by corridors, and columns, and open courts shaded by awnings, 
all gayly painted and ornamented with banners. Its extensive grounds 
include flower-gardens, vineyards, date-orchards, and sycamore-gi-oves. 
There are little summer-houses, and artificial ponds from which rises 
the sweet, sleepy perfume of the lotus-blossom ; here the genial host 
sometimes amuses his guests by an excursion in a pleasure-boat towed 
by his servants. The stables and chariot-houses are in the center of 
the mansion, but the cattle-sheds and granaries are detached. 

We will accompany the guest whose chariot has just halted. The 
Egyptian grandee drives his own horse, but is attended by a train c f 
servants ; one of these runs forward to knock at the door, another take s 
the reins, another presents a stool to assist his master to alight, ani 
others follow with various articles which he may desire during the 
visit. As the guest steps into the court, a servant receives his sandals 
and brings a foot-pan that he may wash his feet. He is then in\4tel 
into the festive chamber, where side by side on a double chair, to whie i 
their favorite monkey is tied, sit his placid host and hostess, blandly 
smelling their lotus-flowers and beaming a welcome to each arrival. 
They are dressed like their guests. On his shaven head the Eg^^jtian 
gentleman wears a wig Avith little top-curls, and long cues wiiich hang 
behind. His beard is short — a long one is only for the king. His 
large-sleeved, fluted robe is .of fine white linen, and he is adorned with 
necklace, bracelets, and a multitude of finger-rings. The lady by his 
side wears also a linen robe over one of richly colored stuff. Her hair 
falls to her shoulders front and back, in scores of crisp and glossy 
braids. The brilliancy of her eyes is heightened by antimony ; and 
amulet beetles, 2 dragons, asps, and strange symbolic eyes dangle from 

1 The brick.s were made of Nile iiiud mixed with chopped straw, and dried iu 
the sun. 

2 The beetle was a favorite emblem for ornaments. No less than 180 kinds of 
scarabaii are preserved iu tlie Turiu Museum alone. It was also engraved on the 
precious stones used as currency between Egypt and neighboring countries. 



42 EGYPT. 

her golden ear-rings, necklace, bracelets, and anklets. Having saluted 
his entertainers, the new-comer is seated on a low stool, where a serv- 
ant anoints his bewigged head with sweet-scented ointment, hands 
him a lotus-blossom, hangs garlands of flowers on his neck and head, 
and presents him with wine. The servant, as he receives back the 
emptied vase and offers a napkin, politely remarks, ''May it benefit 
you." This completes the formal reception. 

Each lady is attended in the same manner by a female slave. While 
the guests are arriving, the musicians and dancers belonging to the 
household amuse the company, who sit on chairs in rows and chat, the 
ladies commenting on each other's jewelry, and, in compliment, ex- 
changing lotus-flowers. The house is furnished with couches, arm- 
chairs, ottomans, and footstools made of the native acacia or of ebony 
and other rare imported woods, inlaid with ivory, carved in animal 
forms, and cushioned or covered with leopard-skins. The ceilings are 
stuccoed and painted, and the panels of the walls adorned with colored 
designs. The tables are of various sizes and fanciful patterns. The 
floor is covered with a palm-leaf matting or wool carpet. In the bed- 
rooms are high couches reached by steps ; the pillows are made of wood 
or alabaster (see cut, p. 29). There are many elegant toilet con- 
veniences, such as polished bronze mirrors, fancy bottles for the kohl 
with which the ladies stain their brows and eyelids, alabaster vases 
for sweet-scented ointments, and trinket-boxes shaped like a goose, a 
fish, or a human dwarf. Everyw^here throughout the house is a profu- 
sion of *flowers, hanging in festoons, clustered on stands, and crowning 
the wine-bowl. Not only the guests but the attendants are wreathed, 
and fresh blossoms are constantly brought in from the garden to replace 
those which are fading. 

And now the ox, kid, geese, and ducks, which, according to custom, 
have been hurried into the cooking-caldrons as soon as killed, are 
ready to be served. After hand-washing and saying of grace, the 
guests are seated on stools, chairs, or the floor, one or two at each 
little low, round table. The dishes, many of wliich are vegetables, 
are brought on in courses, and the guests, having neither knife nor 
fork, help themselves with their fingers. Meantime a special corps 
of servants keep the wine and water cool by vigorously fanning the 
porous jars which contain them. During the repast, when the enjoy- 
ment is at its height, the Osiris — an image like a human mummy — is 
brought in and formally introduced to each visitor with the reminder 
that life is short, and all must die. This little episode does not in the 
least disturb the placidity of the happy guests. There is one, how- 
ever, to whom the injunction is not given, and who, though anointed 
and garlanded, and duly installed at a table, does not partake of the 
delicacies set before him. This is a real mummv, a dear, deceased 



SUMMARY. 43 

member of the family, whom the host is keeping some montlis before 
burial, being loath to part with him. It is in his honor, indeed, that 
the relatives and friends are assembled, and the presence of a beloved 
mummy, whose soul is journeying toward the I^ools of Peace, is the 
culminating pleasure of an Egyptian dinner-party. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History.— Our earliest glimpse of Egypt is of a 
country already civilized. Menes, the first of the Pharaohs, changed 
the course of the Nile and founded Memphis. His successor was a 
physician, and wrote books on anatomy. Khufu, Shafra, and Menkara, 
of the IVtii dynasty, built the three Great Pyramids at Gizeh. In their 
time there were already an organized civil and military service and an 
established religion. From the Vltii to the XI^ii dynasty the monu- 
ments are few and history is silent. Thebes then became the center 
of power. The XII^ii dynasty produced Lake Mceris and the Laby- 
rinth, and waged war against the Ethiopians. Meanwhile the Hyksos 
invaded Lower Egypt and soon conquered the land. At last a Tlieban 
monarch drove out the barbarian strangers. The XVIIItii and XIX*'' 
dynasties raised Egypt to the height of her glory. Thothmes, Amunoph, 
Seti, and, chief of all, Rameses II., covered the land with magnificent 
works of art, and carried the Egyptian arms in triumph to the depths 
of Asia. After the XXtii dynasty Egypt began to decline. Her weak 
kings fell in turn before the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and, finally, 
the Persians. The illustrious line of the Pharaohs was at length swal- 
lowed up in the Empire of Persia (see note, p. 46). 

2. General Character of Egyptian Civilization.— In sum- 
ming up our general impressions of Egypt, we recall as characteristic 
features her Pyramids, Obelisks, Sphinxes, Gigantic Stone Statues, 
Hieroglyphics, Sacred Animals, and Mummies. We think of her wor- 
shiped kings, her all-powerful priests, and her Nile-watered land 
divided between king, priests, and soldiers. We remember that in her 
fondness for inscriptions she overspread the walls of her palaces and 
the pillars of her temples with hieroglyphics, and erected monuments 
for seemingly no other purpose than to cover them with writing. We 
see her tombs cut in the solid rock of the hillside and carefully con- 
cealed from view, bearing on their inner walls painted pictures of 
home life. Her nobility are surrounded by refinement and luxuries 
which we are startled to find existing 4000 years ago ; and her com- 
mon people crowd a land where food is abundant, clothing little 
needed, and the sky a sufficient shelter. 

We have found her architecture of the true Hamite type, colossal, 



44 EGYPT. 

massive, and enduring; her art stiff, constrained, and lifeless; her 
priest-taught schools giving special attention to writing and mathe- 
matics ; her literature chiefly religious, written on papyrus scrolls, 
and collected in libraries ; her arts and inventions numerous, including 
weaving, dyeing, mining and working precious metals, making glass 
and porcelain, enameling, engraving, tanning and embossing leather, 
working with potter's clay, and embalming the dead. Seeing her 
long valley inundated each year by the Nile, she made herself pro- 
ficient in mathematics and mensuration, erected dikes, established 
Nilometers, appointed public commissioners, and made a god of the 
river which, since it seldom rains in Egypt, gives the land its onl^ 
fertility. Her religion, having many gods growing out of One, 
taught a judgment after death, with immortality and transmigration 
of soul ; its characteristic form was a ceremonial worship of animals as 
emblems or incarnations of Deity. Finally, as a people, the Egyp- 
tians were in disposition mild, unwarlike, superstitiously religious, in 
habits cleanly, luxurious, and delighting in flowers ; in mind subtle, 
profound, self-poised ; in social life talkative, given to festivals, and 
loud in demonstrations of grief; having a high conception of morals, 
a respect for woman, a love of literature, and a domestic affection 
which extended to a peculiar fondling of their mummied dead. 

READING REFERENCES. 

BrugscJi's Egypt under the Pharaohs.— Bunsen' a Egypt's Place in the World's 
History.— Birch's Egypt from the Earliest Titnes, and Egypt from the Monuments.— 
Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.— Herodotus, Rawlin- 
son's Translation xvith Notes.— Eaivlinson's Origin of Nations, and Manual of 
Ancient History.— Lenormant and Chevallier's Ancient History of the East-Records 
of the Past {Netv Series).— Egypt over 3300 Years Ago {Illustrated Library of Won- 
ders).— Lubke's History ofArt.— Westropp's Handbook of Archceology.—Fergusson'i 
History of Architecture.— Early Egyptian History for the Voting (Macmillan, Lon- 
don). —Zerffi's Historical Development of Art— George Ebers's Egypt (illustrated); and 
An Egyptian Princess, The Sisters, and Uarda {historical romances).— Mariette's 
Monuments of Upper Egypt— Perrot and Chipiez's History of Ancient Egyptian Art— 
Ooodyear's Grammar of the Lotus.— Books of the Egypt Exploration Fund and 
Archceological Survey.— Bihlia (a current magazine). 

COMPARATIVE CHRONOLOGY, "LONG" AND "SHORT." 

B. C. B. C. 

Menes 5700 2700 

Old Empire 5700-3450 2700-2080 

Middle Empire 3450-1750 2080-1525 

Hyksos "Rule 2325-1750 1900-1525 

New Empire 1750- 525 1525-527 

Persian Conquest 525 527 





J. WELLS, OEU 





_ 2 leet 

clteaied iy Hue ItnesjFrovincea 



RMMkk * •TRVTHSfW, MQ't N.Y. 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Origin of the civilization along the Tigris and 
Euphrates may rival the Egyptian in antiquity; recent 
discoveries seem to remove far into the remote past that 
patriarchal civilization called Accadian, Sumerian, or Su- 
mero-Accadian. 

1. Chaldea. — Om* earliest political glimpse of this 
country shows us a Turanian people with important cities ; 
each city governed by a priest-king, and containing a temple 
sacred to some particular deity. Semitic peoples then enter 
the land. These have less culture but greater intellectual 
capacity than the Accadians. During the many centuries 
which follow — how many no one knows — Sargon I., King of 
Accad, emerges from the mist of antiquity as a builder of 
palaces and temples, an editor of ancient Accadian literature, 
and a founder of libraries ; Ur-ea (Urueh, p. 64), King of 
Ur, scatters gigantic, rudely constructed temples all over 
Chaldea ; and Khamninragus, patron of science and litera- 

GeograpMcal Questions.— L.ocsite Nineveh, Babylon, Tadmor, Accad, Erecli, and 
Calneh. How far was it by direct line from Babylon to Memphis'? To Thebes? 
Describe the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Locate and describe Mesopotamia, Assy- 
ria, Chaldea or Babylonia, and Susiana. Ans. Mesopotamia is a name given by the 
Greeks to the entire rolling plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates ; Assyria 
was an and plateau cut up by rocky ridges, stretching north of Babj'lonia to the 
Armenian Mountains; Babylonia was a rich alluvial plain formed by the deposit of 
the Tigris and Euphrates in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf ; Susiana lay 
soutli-east of Assyria and east of Babylonia. Northern Chaldea was called Accad; 
Southern Chaldea, Shumir. The alluvium was niarvelously fertile. In it wheat grew 
so rank, that, to make it ear, the people mowed it twice, and then fed it off with cattle 
The yield was enormous,— fifty fold at the least, and often a hundred-fold. 



46 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [2280 B. 0. 

ture, unites Accad and Shuniir into one kingdom and makes 
Babylon the capital. All this occurs before 2000 B. c.^ The 
ever-nomadic Semites push northward, and, later, people the 
middle Tigris, where they build great cities and lay the 
foundations of the Assyrian Empire. 

As Chaldea had no natural boundary or defense, it was 
singularly open to attack. There were constant wars with 
the fast-risnig power of Assyria, and in the 13th cent- 
ury B. c. the Chaldeans were conquered by their northern 
rival. The period of their servitude lasted nearly seven cent- 
uries, during which they became thoroughly Assyrianized 
in language and customs. Being, however, a sturdy, fiery, 
impetuous, warlike race, they often revolted. At one time 
— known in history as the Era of Nahonassar (747 B. c.) — 
they achieved a temporary independence, and on the fall of 
Nineveh (606 ? b. c.) they at once rose to power, founding 
the second Babylonian Empire. 

2. Assyria, for nearly seven centuries (1298-606 b. c), — 
from the conquest of Babylon to the overthrow of Nineveh, 
its own capital, — was the great empire ^ of south-western 
Asia. It attained its glory under Sargon and his descend- 
ants, — the SargonidaB. The Assyrian sway then reached to 
the Mediterranean Sea, and included Syria, Media, Baby- 
lonia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, and parts of Arabia 
and Egypt. These conquered nations retained their laws, 

1 Early Chaldean chronology is as uncertain as Egyptian. Berosus, a Babylonian, 
wrote (4th century H. c.) a histoTy of his country, founded on the records in tlie 
temple of Belus. His work, like Manetlio's, is known only by portions quoted in other 
books. Archaeological research is now as enthusiastically pressed in Chaldea as in 
Egypt. A recently discovered cylinder at Sippara, near Accad, points to the remote 
date of 3800 H. c. for Sargon I. 

2 This was the first of the successive "World-Empires." Following it was the 
Persian under Cyrus. This was conquered by Alexander, who founded the Mace- 
donian ; and it in turn gave place to the grandest of all,— the Roman. Out of its ruins 
grew up the Mohammedan of Asia and Africa, and Charlemagne's in Europe. The 
former was sliattered by tlie Turks, and the latter was broken up into several of the 
kingdoms of modern Europe. 



625 b. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 47 

kings, and religion, but, being required to pay tribute and 
fui-nish a military contingent to the royal army, they were 
always ripe for revolt. The history of Assyria is therefore 
the record of an empire constantly falling to pieces, and as 
often restored through the genius of some warrior-king. 




ASSYRIAN HEADS (FROM NIMKOUD). 

About 606 B. c. Nineveh was cai)tured by the combined forces 
of the Babylonians and Medes. Tradition says that its 
effeminate king Sar'-a-cus, taking counsel of his despair, 
bui-ned himself in his palace with all his treasiu-es. The 
conquerors utterly destroyed the city, so that there remained 
only a heap of ruins. ^ 

The Names of the Assyrian Kings are tedious, and 
the dates of their reigns uncertain. Authorities differ gi-eatly 
even in the spelling of the names. Some of the monarchs 
are notable from their connection with Grecian or Jewish 
history. Tig' -lathi-nin (worshij) be to Niu, p. 62) it sup- 
posed to be the Greek Ninus; on his signet-ring was in- 
scribed " The Conqueror of Babylon," which connects him 
with the overthrow of Clialdea, already mentioned. Tiglath- 
Pile'ser I. (1110 b. c.) may be called ^^The Religious Con- 
queror." He built temples, palaces, and castles, introduced 

I Xtuiophoii, durinf; tlie faniouH retreat of the Teu Thouauiul, only two centuries 
after this catastrophe, passed the site of Nineveh, yet does not even mention the 
fact in his history, so perfectly had Nineveh disappeared. 



48 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [1130 B. C. 

foreign cattle and vegetable products, and constructed canals. 
He multiplied the war-chariots, and carried the Assyrian 
arms to the Persian mountains on the east and to northern 
Syria on the west 5 ^ but he was repulsed by the Babylonians, 
who bore off his idols to their capital, where they were 
kept four hundred years. Asslmr-izir-pal (Sardanapalus I., 
'883-858), a cruel but magnificent king, made many con- 
quests, but is chiefly to be remembered in connection with 
the arts, which he raised to a point never before attained. 
He hned his palace walls (Nimroud) with great alabaster 
slabs, whereon were sculptured in spirited bas-rehef the 
various glories he had achieved. He was a hunter as well as 
a warrior and an art patron, and kept a' royal menagerie, 
where he gathered all the wild beasts he could procure from 
his own and foreign lands. 

SJialmane' ser ^ II. was contemporary with Ahab and Jehu, 
kings of Israel ; he personally conducted twenty-four mih- 
tary campaigns. Vul-lush III. (810-781) maiTied Sam- 
muramit, heiress of Babylon, and probably the original of 



1 A lengthy document written by Tiglatli-Pileser, narrating some events of liis 
reign, has been discovered. He writes : " The country of Kasiyara, a diflQcult region, 
I passed tlirough. With their 20,000 men and their five kings I engaged. I defeated 
them. The ranks of their warriors in fighting the battle were beaten down as if bj^ 
the tempest. Their carcasses covered the valleys and the tops of the moimtains. I 
cut off their heads. Of the battlements of their cities I made heaps, like mounds of 
earth. Their movables, their wealth, and their valuables I plundered to a countless 
amount. Six thousand of their common soldiers I gave to my men as slaves." 
Having restored two ancient temples, he invokes the support of the gods, and adds : 
" The list of my victories and the catalogue of my triumphs over foreigners hostile 
to Asshur I have inscribed on my tablets and cylinders. Whoever shall abrade or 
injure my tablets and cylinders, or shall moisten them with water, or scorch them 
with fire, or expose them to the air, or in the holy place of God shall assign them 
to a place where they cannot be seen or understood, or shall erase the writing and 
inscribe his own name, or shall divide tlie sculptures and break them off from my 
tablets, maj^ Ann and Vul, the great gods, my lords, consign his name to perdition ! 
May they curse him with an irrevocable curse! May they pluck out the stability 
of the throne of his empire! May not liis oflfspring survive him ! May liis servants 
be broken ! May his troops be defeated ! May his name and his race perish ! " 

2 In connection with Shalmaneser and the following kings, read carefully 2 Kings, 
xv-xix. 



810B.O.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 49 

the mythical " Semiramis." According to the legend, this 
queen, having conquered Egypt and part of Ethiopia, invaded 
India with an army of a million men, but was beaten back 
by elephants ; she adorned Babylon with wonderful works, 
and at last took the form of a dove and flew away. Tiglath- 
Pileser III. (745-727) captured Damascus and conquered 
Aliaz, King of Judah. SJiahnaneser IV. (727-722) laid siege 
to Samaria, which was taken by his successor, Sargon (722- 
705), who carried off its inhabitants and suppHed their place 
with captive Babylonians. 

Sargon founded the house of the Sargonidae, who were the 
most briUiant of the Assyi-ian kings, and who made aU the 
neighboring nations feel the weight of their conquering 
arms. He himself so subdued the Egyptians that they 
were never afterward the powerful nation they had been ; 
he also reduced Syria, Babylonia, and a great part of Media 
and Susiana. His son, the proud, haughty, and seK-confi- 
dent Sennacherib (sen-nak^-e-rib, 705-681), captui-ed the 
" fenced cities of Judah," but afterward lost 185,000 men, 
" smitten by the angel of the Lord " in a single night. The 
sculptures represent him as standing in his chariot per- 
sonall}^ du-ecting the forced labor of his workmen, who were 
war-captives, often loaded with fetters. Esarhaddon, Sar- 
gon's grandson, divided Egypt into petty states, took Ma- 
nasseh. King of Judah, prisoner to Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 
11), and more fully settled Samaria with colonists from 
Babylonia, Persia, and Susiana AssJmr-hani-pal (Sardana- 
palus II., 668-626 ?),i Sargon's great-grandson, was a famous 
warrior, builder, and art patron. He erected a magnificent 
palace at Nineveh, in which he founded a royal library. His 

1 As the Greeks confounded several Egyptian monarclis under the name of 
Sesostris the Great, so the 'Assyrian king wliora thoy called Sardanapa'liis seems to 
have been a union of Asshurizirpal, Asshurbanipal, and Asshuremedilin. The Greek 
ideal Sardanapalus Is celebrated in Byron's well-known play of that name. 



50 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [626 B. 0. 

son, AssJiur-emed-ilm, or Saraciis, as he was called by some 
Greek writers (p. 47), was the last Assyrian king. 

3. Later Babylonian Empire (606-538). — Nahopo- 
las'sar, a favorite general nnder Saracus, obtained from his 
master the government of Babylon. Here he organized 
a revolt, and made an alliance with Cyaxares, King of the 
Medes; in 606 B. c. their combined forces captured Nineveh. 
The conquerors divided the spoils between them, and to 




BABYLONIAN HEADS (FROM THE SCULPTURES). 

Nabopolassarfell Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, Susiana, and the 
Euphrates valley. Babylon, after the ruin of its rival, 
became again the capital of the East. It held this position 
for nearly a century, when it was captured by Cyrus the 
Great (538 b. c). 

The Names of two of its kings are famihar to every 
Bible reader. Nebucliadnezzar (604-561), the son of Nabo- 
polassar, gave the new empire its character and position. 
Without him Babylon would have had little if any history 
worth recording. A great warrior, he captured Jerusalem,^ 
overran Egypt, and, after a thirteen-years' siege, subdued 
Tyre. A great builder, he restored or repaired almost every 
temple and city in the country. By his marvelous energy 
Babylon became five or six times the present size of London j 

1 "Israel is a scattered sheep; . . , first the king of Assyria hath devourerl him, 
and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones."— ^er 1. 17 



538 b. c] THE CI VI I.IZ ATION. 51 

and its wiiils and lianging o;,,rd(Mis (p. r)8) were among the 
Seven Wonders of the World (Appendix). Immense lakes 
were dug for retaining the Avater of the Enphrates, whence 
a net- work of eanals distributed it over the plain to irrigate 
the land, while quays and breakwaters were constructed 
along the Persian Gulf for the encouragement of commerce.i 
BeJshazzar held the throne jointly wdth his father, Nabona'- 
dius, the last king of Babylon. Cyrus, ruler of the rising 
empire of the Medes and Persians, invaded the country 
"with an army wide-spreading and far-reaching, hke the 
w^aters of a river." Having defeated the army in the open 
field, he besieged Babylon. One night when the Babylo- 
nians were celebrating a festival with drunken revelry, 
the Persians seized the unguarded gates and captured the 
place. From that time Babylon was a province of the 
Persian Empire, and its glory faded. Semitic power had suc- 
cumbed to Aryan enterprise. To-day the site of the once 
great city is marked only by shapeless mounds scattered 
over a desolate plain. 

2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Society. — In Assyria there were no castes or hereditary aris- 
tocracy, but all subjects, foreign and native, had equal privileges, 
dependent upon the one absolute royal wiU. 

The Kind, though not worshiped as a god, as in Egj^t, was 
considered " the earthly vicegerent of the gods," having undis- 
puted authority over the souls as well as the bodies of his people. 

The chief courtiers were eunuchs, who directed the public affairs, 
leaving the king undisturbed to enjoy his sports and pleasures. 
They, however, held their offices at his caprice, and were hable 
at any moment to be removed. The people had the privilege of 

1 Read the Scriptural account of Babylon and its kinjrs in Daniel, Isaiah (chaps. 
X., xi., xiii., xiv., xxi., xlv., xlvi., xlvii., and especially xix., xxiii.), Jeremiah (chaps. 
xlix., 1., and li.), 2 Kings (chaps, xxiv., xxv.), and Ezra (chaps, i.-vi.), 
BaH-4 



52 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



m 



%i 



direct petitiou to the king in case of public wrong or 
neglect.i 

In Babylonia, where there was a mixed population, 
society was divided into castes, of which the highest, 
the ancient Chaldean, was not unlike that of the Egyp- 
^^> tian priesthood. The Chaldeans read the warnings of 

rp, the stars, interpreted dreams and omens, gave instruc- 
I . tions in the art of magic and incantation, and conducted 
\y ~ 1 the pompous religious ceremonies. They also decided 
= -H politics, commanded the armies, aud held the chief state 
"^ ^ t offices. From them came all the royal rulers of Babylon. 
^J~ 2 I The king was as despotic as in Assyria, and Baby- 
^ g "? Ionian nobles at every slight offense trembled for their 
I heads. The whole Chaldean caste were once ordered to 
I be exterminated because they could not expound the 
I dream of a king which he liimself could not recall 
I 1 (Dan. ii. 12). 
lY ^. I Merchants, artisans, and husbandmen formed each a 
^1 caste. The fishermen of the marshes near the Persian 
YT i ^ Griilf corresponded to the swine-herds in Egypt, as 
-^ ^ § ^ being lowest in the social scale. They lived on earth- 
^►- ^ i covered rafts, which they floated among the reeds, and 
11 ° I subsisted on a species of cake made of dried fish. 
^ § I Writing. — Cuneiform Letters {cmwus, a wedge). — Clay 
^ g ^ Tablets. — The earliest form of this writing, invented 
by the Turanians, was, like the Egyptian, a collec- 
tion of rude pictures, with this peculiarity, that they 
Ttrt were all straight-lined and angular, as if devised to be 

^^ cut on stone with a chisel. The Chaldeans, having no 

stone in their country, made of the clay in which it 
abounded tiny pillow-shaped tablets, from one to five 
^^— inches long. Upon these soft, moist tablets they traced 

1 A tablet in tlie Biitisli Museum thus exposes an oiflcial peculation in the time 
of Asshurbanipal : "Salutation to the king, my lord, from his humhle petitioner 
Zikar Nebo. To the king, my lord, may Asshur, Shamash, Bel, Zarpanit, Nebo, 
Tashmit, Ishtar of Nineveh, Ishtar of Arbela, the great gods, protectors of roj'^alty, 
give a hundred years of life to the king, my lord, and slaves and wives in great 
number to the king, my lord. The gold that in the month Tashrit the minister of 
state and the controller of tlie palace should have given me— three talents of pure 
gold and four talents of alloyed gold — to make an image of the king and of the 
mother of the king, has not yet been given. May my lord, the king, give orders 
to the minister of state and to the controller of the palace, to give the gold, to give 
it from this time, and do it exactly " 



►r 



"t 



TilL CIVILIZATION 



i>o 



the outline of the original object-picture in a series of distinct, 
wedge-like impressions made by the square or triangular point 
of a small bronze or iron tool. As in Egypt, the attempt to pre- 
serve the picture outline was gradually abandoned, and the charac- 
ters, variously modified by the differ- 
ent-speaking races inhabiting Assyria . " 
came to have a variety of meanings. ' 
Cuneiform writing has been foun*i 
even more difficult to interpret thai 
Egyptian hieroglyphics. It has sonn 
of the peculiarities of that writini: 
but has no letter-signs, the cuneiform 
writing nations never advancing so far 
as to analyze the syllable into vowel- 
and consonants. Nearly three hun- 
di-ed different characters have been 
deciphered, and a large number re- 
main yet unknown.2 

Other Writing Materials, as Alabas- 
ter Slabs, Terra-cotta Cylinders, Cylin- 




■^\y^] 



der Signets, etc. — The Assyrian clay 
tablets were generally larger than the 
Chaldean, and for the royal records 
slabs of fine stone were prefeiTed. 






^/^ 



ASftVKlAN t'l.AV TAIil.I-yr. 



Oeiieijilly all tiaci- of the original picture disappeared, but in a few cases, such as 
the outline is still visible. A curiou.s example of the picto- 




rial origin of the letters is 
furnished by the character 



iy^ 



which is the 



French une, the feiuiniiie of "(»ne." This character may be traced back through 
several known forms to an original picture on a Koyimjik tablet, 3 t, 



where it appears a-s a double-toothed comb. As this was a toilet, article peculiar to 
women, it became the sign of the feminine gender. 

2 The Beliistun Inscription furnished the key to Assyrian literature, as diir'the 
Rosetta stone to p:gyptian. This inscription was carved by order of Darius llys- 
tasp'es (p. 91) on the precipitous side of a high rock mountain in Media, lit'O feet 
above its base. It is in three languages,— Persian, Median, and Assyrian. The Per- 
sian, which is the simplest of the cuneiform writings, having been mastered, it 
became, like the Greek on the Ilosetta stone, a lexicon to the otheitwo languages. 
Honorably connected with tlie opening-up of the Assyrian language in the present 
century, are llie names of Sir Henry Rawlinson, who at great personal risk scaled tlie 
Behistun Mountain and made a copy of the inscription, which he afterward pub- 
lished ; and M. Oppert, who systematized the ncwlj- discovered language, and founded 
an Assyrian gramnuir for the use of modern scholars. 



54 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 




These slabs were used as panels in palace walls, where they set 
forth the glorious achievements of the Assyrian monarch s. Even 
where figures were sculptured upon the panels, the royal vanity 
was not deterred, and the self- glorifying narrations were carried 
uninterruptedly across mystic baskets, sacred trees, and the dresses 
of worshiping kings and eagle-headed deities. The colossal ala- 
baster bulls and lions which guarded the palace 
portals were also inscribed, and formal invocations 
to the gods were written on hollow terra-cotta 
cylinders, from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, 
which were placed in the temple corners. The 
lines are sometimes more closely compacted 
than those in this paragraph, and the characters 
so fine that a magnifying glass is required to read 
them. Little cylinders made of jasper, chalcedony, 
or other stone were engraved and used as seals by 
rolling them across the clay tablets. There is no 
positive proof that anything like paper or parch- 
ment was ever in use among the Assryians,though the ruins furnish 
indirect testimony that it may have been employed in rare instances. 
Literature. — Libraries. — An Assyrian or Babylonian book con- 
sisted of several flat, square clay tablets written on both sides, care- 
fully paged, and piled one upon another in order. Asshurbanipal, 
who as patron of arts and literature was to Assyria what Rameses II. 
had been to Egypt 600 years before, established an extensive pubhc 
library 1 in his palace at Nineveh. Many of the books were copied 
from borrowed Babylonian tablets, but a large number were evi- 
dently composed under his royal patronage. He gathered works 
on geography, history, law, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, 
botany, and zoology. Complete lists of plants, trees, metals, and 
minerals were prepared j also a catalogue of every known species of 
animals, classified in families and genera. ^^ We may well be aston- 
ished," says Lenormant, ^' to learn that the Assyrians had already 
invented a scientific nomenclature, similar in principle to that of 



A TERRA-COTTA 
CYLINDER. 



1 " Palace of Assliurbanipal, king of tlie world, king of Assyria, to whom the 
god Nebo and the goddess Taslmiit (the goddess of wisdom) have given ears to hear 
and eyes to see what is the foundation of government. The}'' have levealed to the 
kings, my predecessors, tliis cuneiform writing, the manifestation of tlie god Nebo, 
the god of supreme intelligence. T liave written it upon tablets, I have signed it, I 
have placed it in my palace for the instruction of my subjects" (Inscription). One 
of the bricks of this library contains a notice that visitors are requested to give to the 
librarian the number of the book they wish to consult, and it will be brought to them. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 55 

LimiflBus." Here, also, were religious books explaining the name, 
fimetious, and attributes of each god; magical incantations with 
which to charm away evil spirits ; and sacred poems, resembling in 
style the Psalms of David. Among the records copied from Baby- 
lonian tablets, which were already antiquities in the time of As- 
shui'banipal, were the Chaldean accounts of the Creation, the 
Deluge, and the Tower of Babel, which are strikingly like the nar- 
rative in Genesis, though written hundreds of years before Moses 
was born. Most numerous of all were the various gi'ammatical 
works. The Assyrians found their own language so complex, that 
lexicons and grammars were multiplied in efforts to explain and 
simplify it ; and these books, written to aid the Assyrian learner 
over 2500 years ago, have been found invaluable in opening the 
long-lost language to the student of to-day. All this vast collec- 
tion of tablets, gathered with so much care by Asshurbanipal, 
fell with the palace in its destruction under his sou, Saracus, 
and Avere mostly broken into fragments, i 

Monuments and Art.— As the Chaldeans had no stone, they 
made their edifices of burnt or sun-di'ied bricks, strengthening the 
walls by layers of reed matting cemented with bitumen. Their tem- 
ples were built in stories, each one smaller in area than the one 
below, thus forming an irregular pyramid. In later times the 
number of stories increased, and the outer walls of Babylonian 
temples were painted in colors consecrated to the heavenly bodies. 
That of Nebo at Borsippa ^ had its lowest stage black (Satui'u) ; 
the next orange (Jui)iter) -, then red (Mars), gold (the sun), yellow 
(Venus), blue (Mercury), and silver (the moon). The gold and 



1 "The clay tablets lay niuler the ruined palace in such niultitudos that they 
tilled the cliamhcrs to tlie height of a foot or more from tlie floor. Tlie documents 
tlius discovered at Nineveh probably exceed in amount of writing all that has yet 
been afforded by the monuments of Egypt" (Layard's Nineveh). To Austen Henry 
Layard, an English arclutologist, we are chielly indebted for the wonderful dis- 
coveries made in exploring the mounds which mark the site of Nineveh. The British 
Museum has a magniticent collection of Assyrian antiquities recovered from these 
mounds, wliole rooms being lined witli the alabaster slabs exhunuMl from tlie ruins 
of the palaces of xVssliurizirpal at Niinroud, Sennacherib and liis grandson Assliur- 
banipal at Koyunjik, and Sargon at ICIutrsabad. Most of the remains of Sargon's 
palace, however, are deposited in the Louvre at Paris, having been excavated for tlie 
French government by M. Botta, who has the honor of having made (in 18-13) the 
first discovery of an Assyrian monument. 

2 Borsiiipa was a town near Babylon. Some authorities include the ruins of this 
temple, now called the Birs-i-Nimrud, within the outer wall of Babylon, and believe 
it to have been the true Temple of Belus (p. 59), if not tJie actual Tower of BabeL 
A mound i'jillfvl Rnbil, near the Oreat Palace, is the other dispnteil site. 



56 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



silver stages seem to liave been covered with thin plates of those 
metals. Either the sides or the angles of these structures exactly 
faced the cardinal points, and the base was streng'thened by brick 
buttresses scientifically arranged. The royal name and titles were 
engi'aved upon each building-brick. 




Vr.VI,OMAN I'.KICK. 



TheAfssi/rians made their temples simple adjuncts to their palaces, 
where they were used as observatories. Here the priestly astrolo- 
gers consulted the stars, and no enterprise was undertaken, however 
it might otherwise promise success, unless the heavens were de- 
clared favorable. Following the example of their Chaldean instruc- 
tors, the Assyrians continued to build with brick, though they had 
an abundance of excellent stone. Their edifices, placed, like those 
in Chaldea, upon high artificial mounds of earth, were incased with 
bricks used while still soft, so that they adhered to one another 
without cement, and formed a single, compact mass. As their 
palaces were constructed of this same weak material, which was 
liable to disintegrate within twenty or thirty years, they w^ere obUged 
to make the walls enormously thick, the halls narrow and low as 
compared with their length, and to limit the height to one story. 
The roof was loaded with earth as a protection from the fierce 
summer sun and the heavy winter rains. Their building-plan was 
always the same. Around immense square courts were arranged 
halls or chambers of different sizes opening into one another. These 
halls, though never more than 40 feet wide, were sometimes 180 feet 



THE CIVILIZATION 



57 



in length. The sides were lined with alabaster slabs, from eight to 
fifteen feet high, covered with elaboi'ate sculptures illustrating the 
sports, prowess, and religious devotion of the king ; above these 
were enameled bricks. The 
court-yards were paved 
with chiseled stone or 
painted bricks, and the 
beams of Lebanon cedar 
were sometimes overlaid 
with silver or gold. The 
courts themselves were or- 
namented by gigantic sculp- 
tures, and the artificial 
mound was edged by a ter- 
raced wall. Sennacherib's 
palace at Koyunjik was 
only second in size and 
grandeur to the palace tem- 
ple at Karnak. The ruling 
idea in Assyrian architec- 
ture, however, was not, as in 
the Egyptian, that of mag- 
nitude, much less of dura- 
bility, but rather of close 
and finished ornamenta- 
tion; the bas-reliefs being 
wrought out with a minute- 
ness of detail which ex- 
tended to the flowers and 
rosettes on a king's gar- 
ment or the intricate pat- 
tern of his carved footstool. 
But Assyrian alabaster was 
far easier to manage than 
Egyptian granite, and where 
masses of hard stone like 
basalt were used, to which 
the Egyptians would give the finish of a cameo, the Assyrians pro- 
duced only coarse and awkward effects. A few stone obelisks have 
been found — one only, the Black Obelisk of Nimroud, being in per- 
fect presei-vation. In statuary, the Assyrians signally failed, and in 




■r% t^'. 



iKl.ISK FKOM M.MKOLi 



58 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

drawing- they had no better idea of perspective than the Egyptians. 
In their water- scenes the fishes are as large as the ships, and the 
birds in the woods are half as tall as the men who hunt them. 
They excelled in bas-relief, in which they profusely detailed their 
religious ideas, home life, and royal g-reatness. As compared 
with Egyptian art,i the A&syrian was more progressive, and had 
greater freedom, variety, and taste. 

Walls, Temple, Palaces, and Hanging Gardens of Babylon. — The 
wall of this great city formed a square, each side of which was, 
according to Herodotus, 14 miles long, 85 feet thick, and 335 feet 
high.2 Twenty-five brass gates opened from each of the four sides 
upon straight, wide streets, which extended across the city, dividing 
it into squares. A space was left free from buildings for some dis- 
tance next the walls j w^ithin that, beautiful gardens, orchards, and 
fields alternated with lofty dwellings. The brond Euphrates, in- 
stead of skirting the city as did the Tigris at Nineveh, ran midway 
through the town, and was guarded by two brick walls with brass 
gates opening upon steps which led down to the water. The 
river-banks were lined throughout with brick-and-bitumen quays, 
and the stream was crossed by ferries, and, during the day, by a 
movable drawbridge resting on stone x^iers. 

On either side of the Euphrates rose a majestic palace, built upon 
a high platform, and surrounded by triple walls a quarter of a 
mile apart. The outer wall of the larger palace was nearly seven 
miles in circumference. The inner walls were faced with enameled 
brick, representing hunting scenes in gayly colored figures larger 
than life. The glory of tbe palace was its Hanging Gardens, imi- 
tated from those in Assyria, and built by Nebuchadnezzar to please 
his Median queen, who pined for her native hills. They consisted 
of a series of platforms resting on arches, and rising one above the 
other till the summit overtopped the city walls. The soil with 
which they were covered w^as deep enough to sustain not only 
flowers and shi-ubs, but the largest trees, so that the effect was that 
of a mountain clothed in verdure. The structure was ascended by 
broad stairs, and on the several terraces, among fountains, groves, 
and fragrant shrubs, were stately apartments, in whose cool shade 



1 The Chaldean tomb (p. 65) is without inscription, bas-relief, or painting (contiast 
with Ejiyptian tomb). No Assyrian sepiilcher has yet (18'J2) been louutl. 

'■^ Other authorities reduce this estimate. In Alexander's time the wall still stood 
over seventy leet higli. Curtius asserts that "nine tenths of Babylon consisted of 
gardens, jJiirk.H, fields, and oichards." 



THE CIVILIZATION. 59 

the queen might rest while making the tour of her novel pleasure- 
ground. The Temple ofBelus was also surrounded by a wall having 
brass gates. Within the sacred inclosure, but outside the building, 
were two altars for sacrifice, one of stone and one of gold. At the 
base of the tower — which was a huge, solid mass of brick-work — 
was a chapel containing a sitting imag'^ of Bel, a golden stand and 
table, and a human figure eighteen feet high, made of solid gold. 
The ascent was from the outside, and on the summit was the sacred 
shrine, contaiuing three great golden images of Bel, Beltis, and 
Ishtar (p. 61). There were also two golden lions, two enormous 
silver serpents, and a golden table forty feet long and fifteen broad, 
besides drinking-cups, censers, and a golden bowl for each deity. 

Practical Arts and In-venHoii^.— Agriculture was carried to a 
high degree of perfection in both countries, and the system of ir- 
rigation was so complete that it has been said ''not a drop of water 
was allowed to be lost." Their brilliantly dyed and ^coven stuffs , 
especially the Babylonian carpets, were celebrated throughout the 
ancient world ; and the elaborate designs of their embroideries 
served as models for the earliest Grecian vases. In metal-work they 
were far advanced, and they must have possessed the art of casting 
vast masses, since their town and palace gates are said to have been 
of bronze. Wliere great strength was required, as in the legs of 
tripods and tables, the bronze was cast over iron, an ingenious art 
unknown to moderns until it was learned and imitated from Assyrian 
antiquities. The beams and furniture of i)alaces were often cased 
with bronze, and long bronze friezes with fantastic figures in relief 
adorned the palace halls. Gold, silver, and bronze vases, beautifully 
chased, were important articles of commerce, as was also the 
Assyrian pottery, Avhich, being enameled by an entirely different 
process from that of Egypt, and having a finer paste, brighter hue, 
and thinner body, was largely exported to the latter country during 
the XVIIItii dynasty. Mineral tints were used for coloring. 
Assyrian terra cotta was remarkably fine and pure. 

Transparent glass was in use in the time of Sargon. A roek- 
ciystal lens has been found at Nimi'oud, the only object of its kind 
as yet discovered among the remains of antiquity. In gem -cutting 
the Assyrians decidedly excelled the Egyptians, and the exceeding 
minuteness of some work on seals implies the use of powerful 
magnifiers. 

Most of the mechanical powers whereby heavy weights have com- 
monly been moved and raised among civilized nations were under- 



60 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

stood. 1 The Assyrians imported their steel and iron tools from the 
neighboring provinces of the Caucasus, where steel had long been 
manufactured ; the carved ivories which ornamented their palaces 
probably came from Phoenicia. It will be seen that in all the 
common arts and appliances of life the Assyrians were at least 
on a par with the Egyptians, while in taste they greatly excelled 
not only that nation, but all the Orientals. It must not be for- 
gotten, however, that Egyptian civilization was over a thousand 
years old when Assyi'ia was in its infancy. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Assyrians were brave, cruel, 2 and aggres- 
sive. Isaiah calls them a ''fierce people," and Nahiim speaks of Nine- 
veh as ''full of lies and robbery." The mixed people of Babylonia 
were more scholarly and less warlike than the purely Semitic Assyr- 
ians, but they, also, were " terrible and dreadful, going through the 
breadth of the land" with chariots "like the whirlwind," and "horses 
swifter than the leopards and more fierce than the evening wolves." 
In war savage and pitiless, in peace they were " tender and delicate, 
given to pleasures, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Their 
eovetousness and luxurious indulgences became a proverb. They were 
fond of giving banquets in their brilliantly painted saloons, where 
their visitors, clothed in scarlet robes and resplendent in cosmetics 
and jewelry, trod on carpets which were the envy of the ancient world, 
and were served with rich meats and luscious fruits on gold and silver 
plates. In Babylonia the guests were not formally garlanded, as in 
Egypt, but a profusion of flowers in elegant vases adorned the rooms. 
Meantime, while the air was filled with music and lieavy with per- 
fumes, the merry revelers drank deeply of the abundant wine, and 
loudly sang the praises of their favorite gods. 

In pleasant contrast to their dissipation appear their learning, enter- 

1 Tlie Assyrians wrought all the elaborate carvings of their colossi Ijefore moving 
them. They then stood the fignre on a wooden sledge, supporting it by heavy frame- 
work, and biaciug it with ropes and beams. The sledge was moved over rollers by 
gangs of men, levers and wedges being used to facilitate its progress. The entire 
process of transporting a colossal stone bull is graphically pictured in an extensive 
bas-relief found at Koj^unjik, and now in the British INIuseum. 

2 The horrible atrocities inflicted (m war captives are exultantly detailed on royal 
inscriptions. It is significant of the two civilization.s that wliile Assyrian kings were 
thus mutilating and flaying alive their defenseless prisoners, Egypt had aboli-shed the 
death penalty as a punishment for crime. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, 



Gl 



prise, and lioiii'sly in Iradc In thcii' iiitci't'oursc with sli-aiiiLCcrs, thoy 
are said to have cultivated cahuness of manner, a virtue i>robaV)ly not 
natiu'al to them, but whicli was founded upon an intense pride in 
their superior culture and scientific attainments. 

Religion. — The Assyrians and Babylonians were both, in an idola- 
trous way, religious nations, though much less so than the Egyptians. 
The sun, moon, and planets were conspicuous among their gods. 
Their ideas of one First Cause or Deity were even more obscure tlian 
those of the Egyptians, and although // or Ha, who stood at the head 
of the Chaldean Pantheon, was vaguely considered as the fount or 
origin of Deity, tliere were several other self-originated gods, each 
supreme over his own sphere. II was too dimly comprehended to be 
popular, and had apparently no temple in Chaldea. 

Two Triads were next in rank. The first comprised Ana, the lord 
of spirits and demons, who represented original chaos ; Bel or Bel- 
Nimrod, the hunter, lord and organizer of the world ; and Uoa, the 
lord of the abyss, and regulator of the universe. The 
second triad embraced Sin, the moon-god ; San (called in 
Assyria Shamas), the sun-god ; and Ful, the air-god. Each 
god had a wife, who received her share of divine honors. 
After these came the five planetary deities : Xin or Saturn, 
sometimes called the fish-god — his emblem in Assyria 
being the man-bull ; Bcl-Merodach or Jupiter ; Xcrgal 
or Mars — the man-lion of Assyria; /.y/<fr<r or Venus ; and 
Neho or Mercury. A host of inferior gods made jip the 
Pantheon. In the later Babylonian empire, Bel, Mero- 
dach, Nebo, and Nergal w'ere the favorite deities, the last 
two receiving especial w^orship at Babylon. The most popular god- 
desses were Beltis, wdfe of Bel-Nimrod, and '^ mother of the great 
gods; " and Ishtar, "queen of the gods," who shared with Beltis the 
titles of goddess of fertility, of war, and of hunting.! The gods were 
symbolized by pictorial emblems, and also by mystic numbers. Thus, 

Hoa = 40, emblem a serpent 



emblem the moon 




\^: 



San = 20, emblem the sun 




1 lu all tlie Pagan religions tlio characteristics of one deity often tnncli upon 
those of another, and in Chaldea tlie most exalted epithets were divided between a 
number of gods. Tims, Bel is the "father of the gods, the king of tlie spirits; " Ana 
and Merodach are each "the original chief" and "the most ancient;" Nebo is the 
"lord of lords, wlio has no equal in power;" Sin is "tlie king of the gods and the 
lord of spirits," etc. The same symbol also stands for different gods, lloa and Nebo, 
each as the "god of intelligence," " teacher and instructor of men," have for one of 
their emblems the wedge or arrowhead characters used in cuneiloim writing. 



62 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Among the einbloms syml)olizing other, and to us unknown, gods, is 
a double ovoss, generally repeated three times. Religious etiquette 
erected honorary'' shrines to outside gods in temples consecrated to one 
chosen favorite ; and a Babylonian gentleman wore on his cylinder 
seal, besides the emblem of his chosen god patron, the complimentary 
symbols of other deities. 

In Assyria, II was known as Assliur,'^ and was the supreme object 
of worship. He was the guardian deity of king and country, and in 
the sculptures his emblem is always seen near the monarch. In the 
midst of battle, in processions of victory, in public worship, or in the 
pleasures of the chase, Asshur hovers over the scene, pointing his own 
arrow at the king's enemies, uplifting his hand with the king in wor- 
ship, or spreading his wings protectingly over the scene of enjoyment. 
In bas-reliefs representing worship, there also appear a "sacred tree," 
whose true symbolism is unknown, 2 and winged eagle-headed deities 
or genii who hand to the king mysterious fruit from a sacred basket. 
Sin and SJtanias were highly honored in Assyria, and their emblems 
were worn by the king on his neck. Upon the cylinders they are 
conjoined, the sun resting in the crescent of the moon. 

Bel was also a favorite god ; 3 but Nin and Nergal, the winged bull 
and lion, the gods who "made sharp the weapons" of kings, and who 
presided over war and hunting, were most devotedly worshiped. The 
race of kings was traditionally derived from Nin, and his name was 
given to the mighty capital (Nineveh). 

Below the Great Gods were countless inferior ones, each city having 
its local deities which elsewhere received small respect. Good and 
evil spirits were represented as perpetually warring with one another. 
Pestilence, fever, and all the ills of life, were personified, and man 
was like a bewildered traveler in a strange land, exposed to a host of 
unseen foes, whom he could subdue only by charms and exorcisms. 

The Assyrians apparently had no set religious festivals. When a 
feast was to be held in honor of any god, the king made special proc- 
lamation. During a fast, not only king, nobles, and people abstained 
from food and drink, clothed themselves in sackcloth, and sprinkled 

1 In the original langnage, the name of the country, of the first capital, and the 
term " an Assyrian," are all identical with the name of this god. 

2 Recent theories identifying the Egyptian lotus with all classic ornamentation 
assert that the "sacred tree" was a conventional arrangement of lotus palmettes 
and buds, that the mysterious cone-like fruit Avas a lotus-hud, aiid that the Assyrian 
" rosette " was the ovary stigma of the lotus-flower,— all being symbols of sun-worship. 
(See Goodyear's Grammar of the Lotus.) 

3 It was common for both Assyrian and Babylonian kings to signify their favorite 
god by associating liis name with tlieir own. The gods most frequently allied 
with royal names in Assyria were Asshur, Bel, and Nebo; in Babylonia, Nebo and 
Merodach. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 



63 



ashes on their heads, but all the animals witliin the city walls were 
made to join in the penitential observance (see Jonah iii. 5-9). 

[ma<jc Worship. — The stone, clay, and metal images which adorned 
the temple shrines of Assyria and Babylonia were worshiped as real 
gods. So identified was a divinity with its idol, that, in the inscrip- 
tions of kings wiiere the great gods were invoked in turn, the images 
of the same deity placed in different temples were often separately 
addressed, as Ishtar of Babylon, Ishtar of Arbela, Ishtar of Nineveh, 
etc. In worship, living sacrifices and offerings were made and obla- 
tions poured, the king taking the chief position, instead of the priest, 
as in Egypt. 

Curious Babylonish Customs. — If we are to believe Herodotus, the 
Babylonians buried their dead in honey, and married their daughters 
by auction, the money brought by the handsome ones being given as 
a dowry to their less favored sisters. The marriage festival took place 
once a year, and no father could give 
his daughter at any other time or in 
any other way. Each bride received a 
ciay model of an olive, on which were 
inscribed her name and that of her hus- 
band, with the date of the ceremony ; 
this was to be worn on her neck. 
Unlike the Egyptians, the Babylonians 
had no regular physicians ; the sick 
and infirm were brought out into the 
market-place, where the passers-by 
prescribed remedies which had proved 
effectual in their own experience or 
that of their friends ; it being against 
the law to pass by a sick person without 
inquiring into the nature of his disease. 
had a festival, called Sacces, when for five days they took command 
of their masters, one of them, clothed in a royal robe, receiving the 
honors of a king. 




ASSYRIAN LAMPS. 



Every summer the slaves 



SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 



Scene I. — A Chaldean Home. — Let us visit the home of an ancient 
Chaldean as we should have found it over 3500 years ago. Before us 
rises a high brick platform, supporting an irregular cross-shaped house 
built of burnt or sun-dried bricks cemented with mud or bitumen. 
The outside is gayly adorned with colored terra-cotta cones embedded 
in mud or plaster. Entering, we find long, narrow rooms opening one 



64 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYKiA. 



into another. If there are windows, they are set high, near the roof or 
ceiling. Upon the plastered walls, which are often broken by little 
recesses, are cuneiform inscriptions, varied by red, black, and white 
bands, or rude, bright-red figures of men and birds. ^ The chairs or 
stools, of soft, light date-wood, have legs modeled after those of an ox. 
The invaluable palm-tree, as useful in Chaldea as in Egypt, has not 
only supplied the table itself, but much of the food upon it. Its fresh 
or dried fruit appears as bread or sweetmeats ; its sap, as wine, vin- 
egar, and honey. The tableware is clay or bronze. The vases which 

contain the wine are mostly 
of coarse clay mixed with 
chopped straw; but here 
and there one of a finer 
glaze shows the work of the 
potter's wheel and an idea 
of beauty. The master of 
the house wears a long linen 
robe, elaborately striped, 
flounced, and fringed, which, 
passing over one shoulder, 
leaves the other bare, and 
falls to his feet. His beard 
is long and straight, and 
his hair either gathered in a roll at the back of his head or worn 
in long curls. He does not despise jewelry on his own person, and 
his wife revels in armlets and bracelets, and in rings for the fingers 
and toes. Bronze and iron — which is so rare as to be a precious 
metal — are affected most by the Chaldean belle, but her ornaments are 
also of shell, agate, and sometimes of gold. For the common people, 
a short tunic tied around the waist and reaching to the knee is a per- 
petual fashion, suitable for a temperature which ranges from 100° to 
130° F. in summer. In the severest winter season, when the ther- 
mometer falls to 30° above zero, the Chaldean hunter dons an extra 
wrap, which covers his shoulders and falls below his tunic ; then, 
barefooted, and with a skull-cap or a camel's-hair band on his head, 
he goes out, with his bronze arrowhead and bronze or flint knife, to 
shoot and dissect the wild boar. Our Chaldean gentleman makes out 




SIGNET CYLINDER OF L!KUCH.2 
(The earliest Chaldean king, of whom many definite re 
mains have been found. Date, perhaps, 2800 b. c. See 
p. 45.) 



1 This (\escT'ii)tiou is based ii])on the only two Cluihlean residences which have 
as yet, so i&v as is known, been exhumed. They are supposed to date from between 
1800 and IGOO u. v. 

2 Uruch, King of Ur, lived perhaps before Babylon was founded. He was the first 
to call himself " King- of Shumir and Accad." From his cylinder we 'learn that the 
Chaldeans at this early date dressed in delicate fabrics elaborately trimmed, and 
had tastefully fashioned household furniture. 




THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 65 

a deed or writes a letter with a small bronze or ivory lool sailed to his 
minute, cuneiform script, on a hit of moist clay shaped like a tiny 
pillow (p. 52). He signs it l>y rollin<^ across tlio face the little enp-aved 
jasper or chalcedony cylinder, wliich he wears at- 
tached by a string to his wrist. Having baked it, 
he incloses it in a thin clay envelojie, upon which 
ho repeats his message or contract, and bakes it 
again. When the Chaldean dies, his friends shroud 
him in fine linen, and incase him in two large stone 
jars, so that the ujsper part of his body rests in one, 
and the lower part in the other, after which they cement the two jars 
together with mud or bitumen ; or they lay him upon a brick plat- 
form with a reed matting beneath him, and place over him a huge, 
burnt-clay cover, — a marvel of j^ottery, formed of a single x>iece, and 
shaped like a modern tureen cover ; or they put him on the mat in the 
family arched vault, j)illowing liis head on a sun-dried brick covered 
with a tapestry cushion. About him they arrange his ornaments and 
favorite implements ; vases of wine are within his reach, and in the 
palm of his left hand tliey rest a bronze or copper bowl filled with 
dates or other food to strengthen him in his mysterious journey 
througli the silent land. 

Scene II. — A Morning in Nineveh. — The Assyrian was a cedar in 
Lebanon, exalted above all the trees of the field, so that all the trees 
that were in the garden of God envied him, and not one Avas like unto 
him in his beauty (Ezek. xxxi.). Six centuries and a half have 
passed since Chaldea was humbled by her northern neighbor; and 
Assyria, not dreaming that her own fall is so near, is in the fullness 
of her splendor and arrogance. It is about the year 650 b. c, and 
the proud Asshurbanijial is on the throne — Asshurbanipal, who has 
subdued the land of the Pyramids and the Labyrinth, and made 
Karnak and Luxor mere adjuncts to his glory. Nineveh, with her 
gi"eat walls one hundred feet in height^ '<poii wliich three chariots can 
run abreast, lies before us. The bright spring sun of the Orient looks 
down ui3on a country luxuriant with a rich but short-lived verdure. 
Green myrtles and blossoming oleanders fringe the swollen streams, 
and the air is filled with the sweet odors of the citron-trees. The 
morning fog has loaded the dwarf oak with manna, and the rains have 
crowded the land with flowers. The towers, two hundred feet high, 
which mark the various city gates, throw long shadows over rows of 
windowless houses, topped with open domes or high, steep, cone-like 
roofs. Out from these houses come the people, dressed according to 
their several stations : bareheaded and barefooted laborers, clothed in 
one garment, a plain, short-sleeved tunic reaching to the knee ; pros- 
perous folk in sandals and fringed tunics, and the wealthy, in long 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 




THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 



G7 




fringed and elegantly girdled robes. Only tlie liif^licr orders are privi- 
leged to cover their heads with a cap, but all, even the meanest, glory in 
long, elaborately dressed hair. In the dwellings of the ricli we may see 
furniture of elegant design : canopied beds and couches, and curtains 
of costly tapestry ; carved stools and tables with feet fasliioned like 
gazelle-hoofs ; and, in the palace, luxurious chairs, and articles sacred 
to gods and the king. In the west end of the city, abutting the swift- 
flowing Tigris, is a high plat- 
form covering one hundred 
acres, on which stands the 
magnificent palace of Assliur- 
banipal. Near it is the still 
larger one built by Sennach- 
erib, his grandfather, and 
about it are parks and hanging 
gardens. The palaces have 
immense portals guarded by 
colossal winged and human- 
headed bulls and lions ; great 
court-yards paved with ele- 
gantly patterned slabs ; and 
arched doorways, elaborately 
sculptured and faced by eagle- 
headed deities. We miss the 

warm, glowing colors so generously lavished on Egyptian temples. 
Tliere are traces of the painter, but his tints are more subdued and 
more sparingly used. It is the triumphant day of the sculptor and the 
enameler. Asshurbanipal sits on his carved chair, arrayed in his em- 
broidered robe and mantle. On his breast rests a large circular orna- 
ment wrought with sacred emblems ; golden rosettes glitter on his red- 
and-white tiara, and rosettes and crescents adorn his shoes. He wears 
a sword and daggers, and holds a golden scepter. Necklaces, armlets, 
bracelets, and ear-rings add to his costume. Behind him is his parasol- 
bearer, gi'asping with both hands a tail, thick pole supporting a fringed 
and curtained shade. His Grand Vizier — who interprets his will to 
the people, and whose dress approaches his own in magnificence — 
stands before him in an attitude of passive reverence to receive the 
royal orders ; the scribes are waiting to record the mandate, and a 
host of attendants are at hand to perform it. 

Scene III. — A lioi/al Lion-hunt. — To-day it is a lion-hunt. At 
the palace gates, surrounded by a waiting retinue, stands the king's 
chariot, headed by three richly caparisoned horses, champing bronze 
bits and gayly tinkling the bells on their tasseled collars, while groom* 
hold other horses to be placed before the chariots of high officials, aftei 

BQH-fi 



COLOSSAL HUMAN-HEADED WINGED BULL. 



68 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



the monarch shall have mounted. As the king steps into the box -like 
chariot, his two favorite eunuchs adjust the well-stocked quivers, put 
in the long spears, and enter behind him ; the charioteer loosens the 
reins, and the horses start at full speed. At the park, or ''paradise," 
a large circuit is inclosed by a double rampart of spearmen ard archers, 
and a row of hounds held in leashes. Here the lions kept for the 
king's sport wait in their cages. Having arrived at the park and 
received a ceremonious salute, the king gives the order to release the 
wild beasts. Cautiously creeping out from their cages, they seem at 
first to seek escape ; but the spearmen's large shields and bristling 
weapons dazzle their eyes ; the fierce dogs, struggling in their leashes, 
howl in their ears ; and the king's well-aimed arrows quickly enrage 
them to combat. Swifter and swifter fly the darts. The desperate 
beasts spring at the chariot sides only to receive death-thrusts from 
the spears of the attendants, while the excited king shoots rapidly on 




THE ROVAL U„.. ,.'^ROM THE SCULPTURES). 



in front. Now one has seized the chariot-wheel with his huge paws, 
and grinds it madly with his teeth ; but he, too, falls in convulsions 
to the ground. The sport fires the blood of the fierce Asshurbanipal. 
He jumps from his chariot, orders fresh lions to be released, grasps 
his long spear, selects the most ferocious for a hand-to-hand combat, 
furiously dispatches him, and, amid the deafening shouts of his ad- 
miring courtiers, proclaims his royal content. The hunt is over ; the 
dead lions have been collected for the king's inspection, and are now 
borne on the shoulders of men in a grand procession to the palace, 
whither the king precedes them. The chief officers of the royal house- 
hold come out to welcome him ; the cup-bearer brings wine, and, while 
the king refreshes himself, busily plies his long fly-whisk about the 
royal head, the musicians meantime playing merrily upon their harps. 
It remains to offer the finest and bravest of the game to the god of the 
chase ; and four of the largest lions are accordingly selected and 
arranged side by side before the altar. The king and his attendants, 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 69 

all keeping time to formal music, march in stately majesty to the 
shrine, where Asshurbanipal raises the sacred cup to his lips, and 
slowly pours the solemn libation, A new sculpture depicting the grand 
event of the day is ordered, and beneath it is inscribed, — 

"I, Asslmrbauipal, king of tlie -natioua, king of Assyria, in ni)' great courage, 
flgliting on foot with a lion terrible for its size, seized him by the ear, and in the 
name of Asshur and of Ishtar, Goddess of War, with the spear that was iu my baud 
1 terminated his life." 

Scene IV. — JssJno-bavipal goinr/ to TVar. — The king goes to war in 
his chariot, dressed in his most magnificent attire, and atteizded by a 
retinue of fan-bearers, parasol-bearers, bow, quiver, and mace-bearers. 
About these gather his body-guard of foot-spearmen, each one bran- 
dishing a tall spear and protected by scale-armor, a pointed helmet, 
and a great metal shield. The detachment of horse-archers which 
follows is also dressed iu coats of mail, leather breeches, and jack- 
boots. Before and beliind the royal cortege stretches the army — a vast 
array of glancing helmets, spears, shields, and battle-axes ; war- 
riors in chariots, on horse, and on foot ; heavy-armed archers in 
helmet and armor, w^tli the strung bow on the shoulders and the 
highly decorated quiver filled with bronze or iron-headed arrows on 
the back ; light-armed archers with embroidered head-bands and short 
tunics, and bare arms, limbs, and feet ; spearmen who carry great 
wicker shields, Avhich are made, in ease of need, to join and furnish 
boats ; and troops of slingers, mace-bearers, and ax-bearers. The 
massive throne of the king is iu the cavalcade ; upon this, when the 
battle or siege is ended, he will sit iu great state to receive the prisoners 
and spoil. Here, too, are his driuking-eups and washing bowls, his 
low-wheeled pleasure-chair, his dressing-table, and other toilet lux- 
uries. Battering-rams, scaling-ladders, baggage-carts, and the usual 
I)araphernalia of a great army make up tlie rear, where also in carefully 
closed arabas are the king's wives, who, with the whole court, follow 
him to war. The Ninevites come out in crowds to see the start ; the 
musicians — who, however, remain at home — play a brisk farewell on 
double-pipes, harps, and drum; the women and children, standing in 
procession, clap their hands and sing; and so, amid "the noise of the 
rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping 
chariots" (Nahum iii. 2), the Assyrian army sets off. 

Scene V.— ^ Eoyal Banquet. — After many days the host comes 
back victorious (the sculptors never record defeats), bringing great 
spoil of gold, silver, and fine furniture, countless oxen, sheep, horses, 
and camels, prisoners of war, and captured foreign gods. Rejoicing 
and festivities abound. A royal feast is given in the most magnificent 
of the sculptured lialls, where the tables glitter with gold and silver 
stai^ds laden with dried locusts, pomegranates, grapes, and citrons. 



70 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



There are choice meats, hare, and game-birds, and an abundance of 
mixed wine in the huge vases from which the busy attendants fill the 
beakers of the guests. Afterward the king invites 
the queen from her seclusion in the beautiful harem 
to sup v/ith him in the garden. At this banquet 
the luxiu'ious Asshurbanipal reclines on a couch, 
leaning his left elbow on a cushioned pillow, and 
holding in his hand a lotus, here, as in Egypt, the 
sacred flower. A table with dishes of incense stands 
by his couch, at the foot of which sits his hand- 
some queen. Her tunic is fringed and patterned in 
the elaborate Assyrian style, and she is resplendent 
with jewelry. A grape-vine shelters the royal pair, 
and behind each of them stand two fan-bearers 
with long brushes, scattering the troublesome flies. 
Meantime the king and queen sip wine from their 
golden cups ; the attendants bring in fresh fruits ; 
the harpers play soft music ; and, to complete the 
triumph of the feast, from a neighboring tree sur- 
rounded by hungry vultures dangles the severed head of the king's 
newly conquered enemy. 




ASSYKIAN KING AND 
ATTENDANTS. 



4. SUMMARY. 



1. Political History.— Our earliest glimpse of Chaldea is of a Tu- 
ranian people in temple cities. Later come the Semites, a nomadic 
people, who migrate northward, and finally build the Assyrian cities 
upon the Tigris. Henceforth war rages between the rival sections, and 
the seat of power fluctuates between Babylon and Nineveh. About 
1300 B. c. Babylon is overwhelmed, and for nearly 700 years Nineveh 
is the seat of empire. Here the Sargonidae — Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, 
and Asshurbanipal — develop the Golden Age of Assyrian rule. The 
Babylonians, however, continue to revolt, and in 747 B. c. Nabonasser 
ascends the Babylonian throne, destroys the records of all the kings 
before his time, and establishes a new era from which to reckon dates. 
In 606 B. c. Nineveh is finally overthrown by the Babylonians and the 
Medes, and Nabopolasser establishes the second Babylonian Empire. 
Nebuchadnezzar subdues the surrounding nations, humiliates Egypt, 
captures Tyre, crushes Judea, and with his captives brought back to 
Babylon makes that city the marvel of all eyes. It is, however, the 
last of her glory. "Within the next quarter of a century Babylon is 
taken by the stratagem of Cyrus the Great, Belshazzar is slain, and the 
mighty city falls, never again to rise to her ancient glory. 



SUMMARY 



71 



2. Civilization. — The EarJif Chaldeans build vast temples of sun- 
dried brick cemented with bitumen ; write in cuneiform characters on 
clay tablets ; engrave signet cylinders ; use implements of stone, flint, 
and bronze ; manufacture cloth ; make boats and navigate the sea. 
They are learned in astronomy and arithmetic ; discover the equinoctial 
precession (Steele's Astronomy, p. 121) ; divide the day into twenty- 
four hours ; draw maps, record phenomena, invent dials, and calculate 
a table of squares. They place their houses on high platforms, make 
their furniture of date-wood, and use tableware of clay or bronze. 
The palm-tree furnishes them food. Their dead are buried in large 
clay jars, or in dish-covered tombs, or are laid to rest in arched brick 
vaults. 




liNTEKIOH COURT-YAKD OF A MODERN ORIENTAL HOUSE. 



lite Assyrians, their Semitic conquerors, are a fierce, w\arlike race, 
skillful in agi'iculture, in blowing glass and shaping pottery, in casting 
and embossing metals, and in engraving gems. Thej^ dye, weave, 
and are superior in plastic art. They build great palaces, adorning 
them with sculptured alabaster slabs, colossal bulls and lions, paved 
courts, and eagle-headed deities. They, too, w^rite upon clay tablets, 
and cover terra-cotta cylinders with cuneiform inscriptions. Their 
principal gods are the heavenly bodies. They do not worship animals, 
like the Egyptians, but place images of clay, stone, or metal in their 
temples, and treat them as real deities. Magic and sorcery abound. 
There is no caste among the people, but all are at the mercy of the 
king. Women are not respected as in Egypt, and they live secluded 
in their own apartments. Clay books are collected and libraries 
founded, but most of the learning comes from the conquered race, and 
the Chaldean is the classic language. 



72 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



Tlie liahylonians are a luxurious people. Industries flourish and 
commerce is extensive. Babylonian robes and tapestries surpass all 
others in texture and hue. Far below Assyria in the art of sculptured 
bas-relief, Babylonia excels in brick-enameling, and is greatly the supe- 



.^;^> 




THE SITE OF ANCIENT BABYLON. 

rior in originality of invention, literary culture, and scientific attain- 
ment. From her Assyria draws her learning, her architecture, her 
religion, her legal forms, and many of her customs. 

*' In Babylonia almost every branch of science made a beginning. She was the 
source to which the entire stieam of Eastern civilization may be traced. It is 
scarcely too much to say that, but for Babj'lon, real civilization might not even yet 
liave dawned upon the earth, and mankind might never have advanced beyond that 
spurious and false form of it which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and 
Peru, contented tlie aspirations of the people."— i2awliw5on*« Ancient Ilonarchies. 



READING REFERENCES. 



Eawlinson's History of Ancient Monarchies.— Fergusson's History of Architecture, 
and Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Bestored.—Layard's Monuments of Nineveh, 
and Nineveh and its Remains.— Secords of the Past ( New Series).— Say ce's Babylonian 
Literature; Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People; and Fresh Lights from, An- 
cient Momiments.—Perrot and Chipiez's History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria.— 
George Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis {Revised) ; Assyrian Discoveries ; and 
Early History of Assyria.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susia7ia.—Also the General Ancient 
Histories named on p. 44. 

CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Sargon 1 38001 

Ur6a(Uruch) 2800? 

Khammuragus 2280? 

Rise of Assyria 1300 

Era of Nabonassar 747 

Fall of Nineveh 606? 

Cyrus captured Babylon 538 

Alexander captured Babylon 331 



PHCENICIA 



The PhcBnicians were Semites. They inhabited a bar- 
ren strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, 
not more than one hundred and eighty miles long and 
a dozen broad. The country was never united under one 
king, but each city was a sovereignty by itself. A powerful 
aristocracy was connected with these little monarchies, but 
the bulk of the people were slaves brought from foreign 
countries. The principal cities were Sidou and Tyre/ 
which successively exercised a controlling influence over the 
others. The chief defense of the Phoenicians lay in their 
naval power. Situated midway between the east and the 
west, and at the junction of three continents, they carried 
on the trade of the world.^ The Mediterranean became the 
mere highway of their commerce. They passed the Strait 
of Gibraltar on one hand, and reached India on the other. 

They settled Cyprus, Sicily, and Sardinia. In Spain 
they founded Gades (now Cadiz) ; and in Africa, Utica and 
Carthage, the latter destined to be in time the dreaded rival 
of Rome. They planted depots on the Persian GuK and the 

Geographical Questions.— Bound Phoenicia. Locate Tj^re; Sidon. Name the 
principal Plioenician colonies. Where was Carthage? Utical Tarshish? Gades? 
The Pillars of Hercules'? 

1 Tyre, which was founded by Sidonians, has been called the Daughter of Sidon 
and the Mother of Carthage. 

2 Read the 27th chapter of Ezekiel for a graphic account of the Phoenician com- 
merce in his day. 



74 



PHCENICIA. 



Red Sea. They obtained tin from the British Isles, amber 
from the Baltic,^ silver from Tarshish (southern Spain), and 







PHCENICIA 
andtbe 

'^v...... - •. o - .7- DOMINION OF 

Wildekess /c / JUDEA; 

of PlraTi '^ ^ y TIME OF KING SOLOMON. 

J^';^^' Scale of Miles 



J.WELL8 DEL. 



gold from Ophir (southeastern Arabia). In connection with 
their maritime trade they established great commercial 

1 Over tlielv land trade routea. Amber also existed near Sidon. Tliey carefully 
concealed the source of their supplies. An outward-bound Phoenician captain once 
found himself followed by a Roman ship. To preserve his secret and destroy his 
follower, he ran his own vessel on the rocks. The government made up his loss. 



1000 B. c] 



PHCENICIA. 



75 



routes by which their merchants penetrated the interior of 
Europe and Asia. With the growth of Carthage and the 
rising power of Greece they lost their naval supremacy. 
But the land traffic of Asia remained in their hands ; and 
their caravans, following the main traveled route through 
Palmyra, Baalbec, and Babylon, permeated all the Orient. 




THE KUINS OF ANCIEiNT TYKE. 



Loss of Independence. — Rich merchant cities were 
tempting prizes in those days of strife. From about 850 
B. c, Phoenicia became the spoil of each of the great con- 
querors who successively achieved empire. It was made a 
province, in turn, of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Eg\^t, 
Greece, and finally Rome. The Phoenicians patiently sub- 
mitted to the oppression of these various masters, and paid 
their tribute at Memphis or Nineveh, as the case might be. 
To them the mere question of liberty, or the amount of 
their taxes, was a small one compared with the opening or 



76 PHCENICIA. [880-146 B.C. 

closing of their great routes of trade. The general avoid- 
ance of war, except as they entered the service of their 
foreign masters, must have arisen from self-interest, and not 
from cowardice, since the Phoenician navigator displayed a 
corn-age shaming that of the mere soldier. 

Carthage,^ the most famous Phoenician colony, was 
founded, according to legend, about 880 B. c, by Dido, who 
came thither with a body of aristocrats fleeing from the 
democratic party of Tyre. The location of Carthage was 
African, but its origin and language were Asiatic. The 
policy of the warlike daughter proved very unlike that of the 
peaceful mother. The young city, having gained wealth by 
commerce, steadily pushed her conquests among the neigh- 
boring tribes inch by inch, until, by the 7th century B. c, 
she reached the frontier of Numidia. No ancient people 
rivaled her in ability to found colonies. These were all 
kept subject to the parent city, and their tribute enriched 
her treasury. Of the history of Carthage we know little, 
and still less of her laws, customs, and life. No Punic 
orator, philosopher, historian, or poet has left behind any 
fragment to tell of the thoughts that stirred or the events 
that formed this wonderful people. Had it not been for the 
desolating wars that accompanied her fall, we should hardly 
know that such a city and such a nation ever existed. 



1 Carthage was built on a peninsula about three miles -wide. Across this was 
constructed a triple wall with lofty towers. A single wall defended the city on every 
side nest the sea. The streets were lined with massive houses lavinhly adorned 
with the riclies of the Punic traders. Two long piers reached out into the sea, 
forming a double harbor,— the outer for merchant ships, and the inner for the navy. 
In the center of flie inner harbor was a lofty island crowned with the admiral's 
palace. Around this island and the entire circumference of the inner harbor ex- 
tended a maible colonnade of Ionic pillars two stories high ; tJie lower story forming 
the fi'03t of the curved galleries for the protection of the ships ; and the upper, of 
the rooms for workshops, storehouses, etc. The limits of the city were twenty-three 
miles, and it was probably more populous than Rome. Its navy was the largest 
in the world, and in the seafight with Kegulus comprised 350 vessels, carrying 
150,000 men. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 77 



THE CIVILIZATION. 

Civilization. — "Assyria and Egypt were the birtli places of ma- 
terial civilization, and the Phoenicians were its missionaries." The 
depots of the Phoenician merchants were centers whence germs 
of cultm-e were scattered broadcast. To Europe and Africa these 
traders brought the arts and refinements of the older and more 
advanced East. 

Literature. — But the Phoenicians were more than mere carriers. 
To them we are said to owe the ali)habet,i which came to us, with 
some modifications, through the Greeks and Romans. Unfortu- 
nately no remains of Phoenician literature survive. Treatises on 
agriculture and the useful arts are said to have been numerous ; 
Debir, a Canaanite (probably Phoenician) town of Palestine, was 
termed the " book-city." 

Arts and Inventions. — The Phoenicians were the first to notice the 
connection of the moon with the tides, and apply astronomy prac- 
tically to navigation. They carried on vast mining operations, and 
were marvelous workers in ivory, pottery, and the metals, so that 
their bronzes and painted vases became the models of early Gre- 
cian art. The prize assigned by Achilles for the foot-race at the 

funeral of Patrocles (Iliad, XXIII., 471) was — 

•k 

"A bowl of solid silver, deftly wrought, 
That held six measures, and iu beauty far 
Surpassed whatever else the world coiHd boast ; 
Since men of Sidon skilled in glj'ptic art 
Had made it, and Phoenician mariners 
Had brought it with them over the dark sea." 2 

1 According to general belief, the Phrenicians selected from the Egyptian hieratic 
twenty -two letters, making each represent a definite articulation. Twelve of these 
we retain with nearly tlieir Phoenician value. But the age and origin of the alphabet 
are still under discussion. Mr. Petrie says that the inscribed potsherds found by him 
(1890) in Egypt "point to the independent existence of tlie Phojuician and perhaps 
the Greek alphabet at least 2000 n. c. ; " wliile Pi-of. Sayce, speaking of recent dis- 
coveries (1890) in Arabia, remarks, " Instead of seekingiu Phceniciathe primitivehome 
of oui alphabet, wo may have to look for it in Arabia." 

2 Until recently no specimen of pure Phfenician art was known to exist. Luigi 
Palnia d\ Cesnola, former Con.sul to the Island of Cyprus, in his excavations on that 
island, uncovered the sites of seventeen cities, and opened many thonsand tombs. 
Here he found countless Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Plia*nician 
treasures, dating from before the time of Thnthnios III. (p 17), whose official seal he 
exhumed. The Phoenician tombs wore several feet below the Grecian , one city hav- 
ing perished and another sprung up, " which, in turn, buried its dead, unconscious of 
the oldev .sepulclier below. Time had left no human remains except a few sknlLs, to 
some of which still adhered the gold leaf placed by the Phreniciaus ovor the mouth of 
their dead." 



78 



PHCENICIA. 



Sidon was noted for its glass- working, in which the blow-pipe, 
lathe, and graver were used. The costly purple dye of Tyre, ob- 
tained in minute drops from shell-fish, was famous, the rarest and 
most beautiful shade being worn only by kings. The Phoenicians 
were celebrated for their perfumes, and had a reputation for 
nicety of execution in all ornamental arts. When Solomon was 
about to build the great Jewish Temple, King Hiram sent, at his 
request, " a cunning man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, 




in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber ; in purple, in blue, in 
crimson, and in fine linen ; also to grave any manner of graving, 
and to find out every device which shall be put to him." 

Their Beligion resembled that of the Chaldeans and Assyi'ians, 
but was more cruel. Baal and Moloch were great gods connected 
with the sun. They were worshiped in groves on high places, 
amid the wild cries and self -mutilations of their votaries. Before 
and after a battle (if victorious) large numbers of liuman beings 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



79 



•were sacrificed. Melcarth, the special god of Tyre, imited the 
attributes of Baal and Moloch. He was a Hercules who pulled back 
the sun to the earth at the time of the solstices, moderated all 
extreme w^eatlier, and counteracted the evil signs of the zodiac ; his 
symbol was that of the Persian Ormazd, — a never-ceasing flame 
(p. 98). Astarte, or Ashtaroth, goddess of fire and chief divinity of 
Sidon, became the wife of Melcarth ; she symbolized the moon. 

Children were the favorite offerings to Moloch. At Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii. 10) 
the hollow metal linage of the Tyrian god was heated by a fire beneath it, the 
priest placed the child in the idol's glowing hands, and drums were beaten to drown 
the little sufferer's cries. So common were such sacrifices, that one liLscOriau says the 
Phoenicians ofiered ^ome relative on the occa.siou of any great calamity ; and when 
the Carthaginians were besieged by Agathocles, t3naut of Sicily, they devoted two 
hundred of their noblest children in a public sacrifice. Even in Roman Carthage 
these horrible sights were revived, and infants were publicly offered till Tiberius, 
to put a stop to the revolting practice, crucified the priests on the same trees beneath 
whose shade they had performed these cruel rites. 



READI NG REFERENCES. 

The General Ancient Histories named on pp. 44 and 72.— CJievalier and Lenor- 
manVs Manual of Oriental History.— Capt. Mago's Adventures, a Phoenician Ex- 
pedition 1000 \%.(:.— Arnold's History of Rome, Vol. II., pp. 455-467 {Carthaginian 
Institutions).— Mommsen's History of Rome, Vol. II., p. 261 (Carthage).— Rawlinson's 
Phoenicia; and Church's Carthage {Story of the Nations Series).— Perrot and 
Chipiez'8 History of Art in Phoenicia. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Sidon founded, about 1550 

Rise of Tyre, about 1050 

Carthage founded, about 880 

Phoenicia conquered by Assyria, about 850 

Tyre captured by Nebuchadnezzar :.-- 585 

Tyre captured by Alexander 332 




A I'llCKNICIAN GALLEY. 



JUDEA. 



The Hebrews were Semites, and related to the Ass^-rians 
and the Phoenicians. Their history opens, in the 20th cen- 
tury B. c , with the coming of Abram from Chaldea into 
Canaan. There he and his descendants lived, simple shep- 
herds, like the Ai-abs of to-day, dwelling in tents among 
their flocks and herds. By a singular fortune, Joseph, 
his great-grandson, became vizier of A-pe-pi II., one of the 
shepherd kings of Egypt (p. 17). Being naturally desirous 
of surrounding himself by foreigners who would support 
him against a revolt of the people, that monarch invited 
the Hebrews to settle in Egypt. Here they greatly pros- 
pered. But in time the native kings, who ^' knew not Joseph," 
were restored. During the XIX*^ dynasty, Rameses II. 
greatly oppressed them with hard sei'vice on his public works 
(p 18). During the next reign (Mineptah's) Moses, one of 
the profoundest statesmen of history, who was versed in all 
the learning of the Egyptian court, — then the center of 
civilization, — rescued his people from their bondage.^ 

GeograpJiical Qiiestions.—Bonud Palestine Locate the Dead Sea , the Sea of 
Galilee ; the Kingdom of Jndah ; the Kingdom of Israel. Describe tlie River 
Jordan. Where was Jerusalem? Samaria? Jericho? Damascus? Palmyra (Tad- 
mor) ? Joppa ? Why, in going from Galilee to Jerusalem, did Jesus of Nazareth 
'needs pass through Samaria"? Name the five cities of the Phihstines. Ans. Ash- 
dod, Gaza, Ascalon, Gath, Ekron. 

i The wonderful events by which this was accomplished are familiar to every 
Bible student. The design is here to give only the political history, omitting that 




.rtELLS, OEL. 



RUSSELL A STRUTHERSiENQ'S N.Y. 



82 JUDEA. [1491 B.C. 

The Exodus (about 1300 b. c.).^ — For forty years Moses 
led the Jews through the wilderness until the 3,000,000 of 
slaves became assimilated into a nation of freemen, were 
won from Egyptian idolatries to the pure worship of the 
one God of their fathers, were trained to war, and made 
acquainted with the religious rites and the priestly govern- 
ment which were henceforth to distinguish them as a people. 

The Conquest of Palestine was accomplished by 
Joshua,^ successor to Moses, in six years of fierce fighting, 
during which thirty-one Canaanite cities were destroyed, 
and the country was allotted to the tribes. 

The Judges. — Unfortunately, Joshua at his death did 
not appoint a new leader; and for want of a head, the 
tribes fell apart. The old spirit of enthusiasm, national- 
ity, and religious fervor Avaned. Idolatry crept in. For a 
while the conquered Canaanites made easy prey of the dis- 
united tribes. From time to time there arose heroic men who 
aroused their patriotism, inspired a new zeal for the Mosaic 
law, and induced them to shake off the yoke of servitude. 
These were the days of the Judges — Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, 
Samson, the j)rophetess Deborah, and the prophet Samuel. 

Kingdom of Israel. — During the last days of the 
Judges, while the Jews and the Canaanites were at war, 
a new power grew up on their borders. The Philistines 

providential oversiglit more often avowed in the case of the Jews, but not more real 
than in the life of every nation and individual. It is noticeable that Miueptah, 
the Pharaoh who, according to a common belief not supported by the Bible record, 
perished in the Red Sea, lived many years after that disaster, and died in his bed. 
(See 1 Kings vi. 1.) 

1 This is the date now generally accepted by Egyptologists. Usher, whose chro- 
nology is still jireferred by some Bible students, says 1491 B. c. (See 1 Kings vi. 1.) 

2 Joshua's i>lan of crossing the Jordan, capturing Jericho, taking the heights be- 
yond by anight march, and delivering the crusliiug blow at Bethhoron (Joshua x. 9), 
was a masterpiece of strategy, and ranks him among the great generals of the world. 
His first movement placed him in the center of the country, where he could prevent 
his enemies from massing against him, and, turning in any direction, cut them up 
iu detail. 



1095-975 B. c] 



JUDEA. 



83 



formed a strong confederation of five cities along the coast 
south of Phoenicia, and threatened the conquest of Canaan. 
In order to make head against them, the people demanded a 
king. Accordingly, three monarchs were given them in 
succession, — Saulj David^ and Solomon. Each reigned forty 
3'ears. The first was merely a general, who obeyed the 
orders of God as revealed through the prophet Samuel. 
The second was a warrior king. He enlarged the boundaries 
of Palestine, fixed the capital at Jerusalem, organized an 




TOMBS OF THE JUDGES. 



army, and enforced the worship of Jehovah as the national 
religion. The third was a magnificent oriental monarch. 
His empire reached to the Euphrates, and the splendor of 
his com-t rivaled that of Egypt and Assyria. He man-ied 
an Egyptian princess, built the temple on Mount Moriah 
in Jerusalem, erected splendid palaces, and sent expeditions 
to India and Arabia. This was the golden age of Judea, 
and Jerusalem overflowed with wealth. 



84 JUDEA. [975 b. O. 

The Two Kingdoms. — Luxury, however, brought ener- 
vation, commerce introduced idolatry, extravagance led to 
oppressive taxation. The people, on Solomon's death, de- 
manded of his son a redress of their grievances. This being 
haughtily refused, a revolt ensued. The empire was rent into 
the two petty kingdoms of Israel and Juclah, — the former 
containing ten tribes ; the latter, two. 

Israel (975 to 722 = 253 years) was idolatrous from the 
start. It was a continued scene of turmoil and wrong. Its 
nineteen kings belonged to nine different famihes, and eight 
met a violent death. Finally the Assyrians captured Sa- 
maria, the capital, and sent the people prisoners into Media. 
They vanished from history, and are known as the " Lost 
Tribes." The few remaining Israelites combined with the 
foreign settlers to form the Samaritans. With this mongrel 
people pure Hebrews had ''no dealings" (John iv. 9). 

Judah (975 to 586 — 389 years) retained the national 
religion. Its twenty kings, save one usiu-per, were all of 
the house of David in regular descent. But it lay in the 
pathway of the mighty armies of Egypt and Assyria. Tlu*ice 
its enemies held Jerusalem. At last Nebuchadnezzar de- 
stroyed the city, and carried many of the principal inhabit- 
ants to Babylon. 

The Captivity lasted about seventy years. The Jews 
prospered in their adopted country, and many, like Daniel, 
rose to high favor. 

The Restoration. — Cyrus, after the capture of Babylon 
(p. 51), was friendly to the Jews,^ and allowed those who 
chose to return to Judea and rebuild their temple. They 
were greatly changed by their bondage, and henceforth were 
faithful to their religion. While they had lost their native 

1 Tliis was owing to (1) similarity in their religions]; (2) the foretelling of the 
victories of Cyrus by the Jewish prophets; and (3) the influence of Daniel. Read 
Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra. 



536 B. c] 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



85 



language, they had acquired a love for commerce, aud numy 
afterward went to foreign countries and engaged in trade, 
for which they ai'e still noted. 

Their Later History was full of vicissitude. They 
became a part of Alexandei-^s World-Empire (p. 151). When 
that crumbled, Palestine fell to the 
Ptolemies of Egypt (p. 154). In the 
1st century B. c, Judea was absorbed 
in the universal dominion of Rome. 
The Jews, how^ever, frequently re- 
belled, until finally, after a siege of untold horror, Titus cap- 
tured Jerusalem and razed it to the ground. The Jewish 
nation perished in its ruins. 




OUIENTAL SANDAL. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 

Civilization. — The Hebrews were an agricultural people. The 
Mosaic law discouraged trade and intercourse with foreign na- 
tions. The priests, who received a share of the crops, naturally 
favored the cultivation of the soil. There 
was no art or science developed. When 
the Temple was to be built, Solomon 
obtained not only skilled laborers from 
the Phcfinicians (p. 78), but also sailoi*s 
for his fleet. Yet this people, occupy- 
ing a little ten'itory 150 miles long and 
50 broad, has, like no other, influenced 
the world's history. Its sacred books 
constitute the Bible; its religion has 
molded the faith of the* most progi'es- 
sive and civilized nations; while from 
its royal family descended Jesus of Naz- 
areth, the gi'andest factor in all history. 

TJie Hebrew Commonwealth was the first 
definite knowledge. 




ANCIENT JEWISH HOOK. 



fepublic of which we have 
The foundation was the house : thence the 
ascent was through the family or collection of houses, and the tribe 
or collection of famiUes, to the nation. There were twelve heads of 
tribes, or princes, and a senate of seventy elders, but the soui'ce of 



86 



JUDEA. 



power was the popular assembly known as the " Congregation of 
Israel," in which every Hebrew proper had a voice. This, Uke the 
centurion assembly of Rome (p. 215), formed the Jewish army. 
The Mosaic Laws were mild, far beyond the spirit of the age. The 
cities of refuge modified the rigors 
of the custom of personal retaha- 
tion, and gave to all the benefits of 
an imj^artial trial. The slave was 
protected against excessive punish- 
ment, and if of Hebrew birth was 
set free with his children at the 
Jubilee year. Land could not be 
sold for more than fifty years, and 
the debtor could always expect on 
the Jubilee to go back to the home 
of his fathers. The stranger secured 
hospitality and kindness. Usury 
was prohibited. For the benefit 
of the poor, fruit was left on the 
tree, and grain in the field, the law 
forbidding the harvest-land or vine- 
yard to be gleaned. Cruelty to animals was punished, and even 
the mother-bird with her young could not be taken. 

Learning was held in high esteem. All Hebrews received what 
we should call a '^ common-school education." With this, the 
Levites, the hereditary teachers, blended instruction in the sacred 

history, the precepts of 
religion, and their duties 
to God and their coun- 
try. Every boy was com- 
pelled to learn a trade. 
Ignorance of some kind 
of handicraft was discred- 
itable, and the greatest 
scholars and statesmen had some regular occupation. After the 
captivity, education seems to have been made compulsory. 




HEHREW PIUEST OFFERING INCENSE. 




JEWISH SHEKEL 



The Hittites, mentioned in the Old Testament, inhabited the fer- 
tile valleys of the Orontes, and spread throughout southern Syria. 
They were a military and commercial nation, and made great ad- 
vances in civilization and the fine arts. A court poet is mentioned 



THE CIVILIZATION 



87 



on the Egyptian monuments as having been among the retinue of a 
Hittite king, and the early art discoveriid in Cyprus by Di Cesnola 
is supposed to be largely derived from this people, who longresiste<l 
l)oth the Assyi-ians and the Egyptians. The Egyptians called them 
the Kheta, and the victory of* 
Rameses II. over the " vile chief 
of Kheta'' is celebrated in the 
poem of Pentaur (p. 25). Some 

famous sculptured figures along a.nciicm key. 

the roads near Ephesus and from 

SmjTna to Sardis, attributed by Herodotus to Rameses II., prove 
now to be Hittite monuments. The language and various memo- 
rials of this once-powerful people are being eagerly investigated 



"^^ 



,1^^r< -T^^^k- 




Ji: 1U>AI.1..M I.N KAIM.V 'I'l.MF.S. 

by archaeologists, who have already discovered the site of their 
commercial capital, Carchemish, in a huge mound on the lower 
Euphrates. In this mound — a mass of earth, fragments of ma- 
sonry pnd debris, surrounded by ruined walls and broken towers — 
important remains with inscriptions are now being found. 

CHRONOLOGY. 

B. C. 

Abram migrated to Canaan, about 2000 

The Exodus, about 1300 

Monarchy established 1095 

Reign of Solomon 1015-975 

Division of the Kingdom 975 

Sargon took Samaria 722 

Nebuchadnezzar destmycd Jerusalem 588 

Titus took Jerusalem A. D. 70 

BQ H— 6 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

The Medes and Persians, two Aryan nations, vfere 
early conquered by the Assyrians. The Medes were the first 
to assert their indej)endence. Under Cyax'ares they de- 
stroyed Nineveh (GOG b. c.) and divided Assyria between 
themselves and the Babylonians, who had aided them in 
this conquest (p. 47). Asty'ages, successor of Cyaxares, had 
been acknowledged superior by the Persiali king Gambyses, 
whose son, Cy'rus, became a hostage at the Median court. 
But the Medes were better fighters than organizers, and^ 
besides, were soon enfeebled by the luxury that follows 
conquest. 

Cyrus ^ was bold, athletic, and ambitious, and soon came 

Geographical Questions.— Jio\nn\ Persia ; Media. Locate Persepolis ; Susa ; Pasar- 
gada3. Name the couutries of Asia Minor. Where was Lydia? Sardis'? Tlie river 
Halys? What was the extent of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander 
the Great? 

1 According to one of many legends, Cyrus was the grandson, on his mother's side, 
of King Astyages. His future greatness, and through him that of Media's rival, 
Persia, were revealed to Astyages in a dream. Harpagus, who was ordered to kill 
the child, gave him to a herdsman to expose on a mountain (conniaro Greek and 
Roman customs, pp. 178, 28G; and Romulus, p. 205). The herdsman, in pity, saved tlje 
child as his own. A boyish quarrel sent Cyrus before the Median king, who, struck 
by his noble bearing, sent for Harpagus, and, finally learning the truth, quietlj'- 
directed him to send his son to be a companion for the ycmng prince, and himself to 
attend a banquet at the palace. Cyrus was kept at court; but Harpagus, at the royal 
feast which he was directed to attend, was served with the roasted flesh of his own 
son. In time Harpagus roused Cyrus to revolt, betrayed the Median army to the 
young prince, and became his most devoted general. 



558 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



89 



to despise the now effeminate Medes. Arousing liis war- 
like countrymen to revolt, lie not only achieved their in- 
dependence, but conquered 
Media and established the 
Medo-Persian, the second 
great empire of western 
Asia. His reign was a suc- 
cession "of wars and con- 
quests. He defeated Croesus, 
King of Lydia,^ thus adding 
to his dominions all Asia 
Minor west of the Halys. He 
captured Babylon (p. 51) and 
overthrew the Assyi-ian Em- 
pire. With the f aU of Baby- 
lon the fabric of Semitic 
grandeur was shattered, and 
Aryan Persia took the lead 
in all western Asia. When 
Cyrus died, the Medo-Persian 
kingdom reached from the 
borders of Macedonia to the 
banks of the Indus. The ex- 
tensive conquests and noble character of this king won for 
him the title of Cyrus the Great. 




A BAS-KELIEF OF CYRUS. 



1 Lydia was an exceedingly ricli countiy. Her nionntains abonnded in precious 
ores ; and the sands of the liver ractolus, wliicli coursed her capital, tSardis, were 
iieavj^ with electruni,— a mixture of gold and silver. Of this electruni, the first known 
coins were made in the 8th century b. c- Croesus was so rich that liis name has be- 
come proverbial. He was now doomed to die. licgend relates that, as lie watched 
tlie flames surmounting liis funeral pile, he exclaimed " Solon ! Solon ! " tliat in response 
to the queries of Cyrus he answered that the great Atlienian statesman (p. 122) had 
once visited him, and had made light of liis wonderful riches, saying, "No man can 
be judged happy till the manner of his death is known ; " and that Cj^rus. moved by 
tlie incident, thereupon released him, and became his faitliful friend. Chronological 
difficulties in regard to Crousus and Solon have discredited this legend, so chaimingly 
told by Herodotus. 



90 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



[529-522 B. C. 



Cambyses (529 b. c), liis son, succeeded to tlie throne. 



He conquered Egypt (p. 19) in 



single battle, using, it 
is said, the stratagem 
of placing before his 
army cats, dogs, and 
other animals sacred to 
the Egyptians. After 
this victory he invaded 
Ethiopia, but his army 




CRtESUS ON THE FUNKRAL PVHE (KKOM AN ANCIENT VASE). 

nearly perished in the burning sands of the desert, and he 
returned, disgraced, to Memphis. On his journey back to 
Persia he died (522 b. c.) in Syria of a wound from his own 
sword.^ The Persians called the gracious Cyrus " Father ; " 
the reckless Cambyses was branded as " Despot." 



I He had just learned of the assumption of the "False Smerdis" (p. 91). Hastily 
mounting his lioise, liis sword fell from its sheath, and, "killing himself, he died," says 
the Behistim Inscription. Differing authorities interpret this as a suicide or an 
accident. 



521-48GB.C.] THE POLITK'AL HISTORY. 91 

Darius I. (521 b. c.)' oi-gaiiizi'd the vast kiii^lom whicli 
Cyrus had conquered. There were twenty-three provinces, 
all restless and eager to be free. Insurrections were there- 
fore frequent. Darius divided the empire into twenty great 
" satrapies," each governed by a satrap appointed by the king. 
The slightest suspicion of treachery was the. signal for their 
instant death. To secure prompt communication with dis- 
tant portions of the empire, royal roads were established 
with com-iers to be relieved by one another at the end of 
each day's journey. Every satrapy paid a regular tribute, 
but retained its native king, laws, and religion.^ The capi- 
tal of the empire was fixed at Susa. 

Darius I. is called the Second Founder of the Persian 
Monarchy. To his abilit}^ as an organizer was added the 
ambition of a conqueror. Having by one masterly move 
grasped the riches of India on the east, he essayed the 
conquest of Greece on the west. The story of his defeat 
we shall study in Greece. 

The Later History of Persia presents the usual charac- 
teristics of oriental despotisms. There were scenes of cruelty, 
treachery, and fraud. Brothers murdering brothers, queens 
slaying their rivals, eunuchs bartering the throne and 
assassinating the sovereign, were merely ordinary events. 
At last the empire itself crumbled before the triumphant 
advance of Alexander. 



1 During the absence of Caniby.ses in Egypt, the Magi made one Gomates king, 
representing him to be Smerdis, tlie son of Cyrus. Cambyses, liowever, liad secretly 
murdered this brother before his departure from Persia. Darius, conspiring with six 
other nobles, slew the "False Smerdis." The seven noblemen agreed to ride out at 
sunrise of the following day, and that he whose horse tirst neighed should become 
king. Darius secured the prize, Herodotus says, by a trick of liis groom in placing 
a horse well known to his mastei's horse near where they were to pass. 

2 The satraps rivaled the king himself in the magnificence of their courts. Eacli 
had several palaces with pleasure gardens, or "paradises," as they called tliem, 
attached. The income of the satrap of Babylon is said to have been four bushels of 
silver coin per day. 



92 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Society. — The King, as in Assyria and Babylonia, held at his 
disposal the lives, liberties, and property of his people. He was 
bound by the national customs as closely as his meanest subject,but 
otherwise his will was absolute. His command, once given, conld 
not be revoked even by himself : hence arose the phrase, '' Un- 
changeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians." His every 
caprice was accepted without question. If he chose, in pure wan- 
tonness, to shoot an innocent boy before the eyes of his father, the 
parent, so far from expressing horror at the crime, would praise 
his skillful archery ; and offenders, bastinadoed by royal order, 
declared themselves delighted that his majesty had condescended 
to notice them even with his displeasure. The king was the state. 
If he fell in battle, all was lost; if he were saved, it outweighed 
every calamity. 

The Seven Princes (Esther i. 14; Ezra vii. 14) were grandees next 
to the king. One was of the royal family; the others were chiefs 
of the six great houses from which the king was legally bound to 
choose his legitimate wives. No one except the Seven Princes 
could approach the royal person unless introduced by a court 
usher. They sat beside the king at public festivals, entered his 
apartment at their pleasure, and gave him advice on public and 
private matters. 

The Court was principally composed of Magi (p. 97), who judged 
all moral and civil offenses. 

The People seem to have been divided into two general classes: 
those who lived in towns and cities and who generally cultivated 
the soil, and the roving or pastoral tribes. Social grades were 
strongly marked, and court etiquette was aped among all classes, 
special modes of salutation being prescribed for a man's superior, 
his equal, and, his inferior. Trade and commerce were held in con- 
tempt, and the rich boasted that they neither bought nor sold. 

Writing. — Cuneiform Letters. — The Persian characters were 
formed much more simply than the Assyrian. They were, so far 
as now known, less than forty in number, and were written from 
left to right. For public documents the rock and chisel were used ; 
for private, prepared skin and the pen. Clay tablets seem never to 
have been employed, and papyrus brought from Egypt was too 
costly. As the cuneiform letters are not adapted to writing on 
parchment, it is probable that some cursive characters were also in 



THE CIVILIZATION. 93 

use. The Persian writing which has survived is almost entirely 
on stone, either upon the mountain side or on buildings, tablets, 
vases, and signet cylinders. 

Science and Literature. — To science the Persians contributed 
absolutely nothing. They had fancy, imagination, and a relish for 
poetry and art, but they were too averse to study to produce any- 
thing which required patient and laborious research. In this 
respect they furnish a striking contrast to the Babylonians. 

The A vesta, or Sacred Text, written in Zend, the ancient idiom 
of Bactria, is all that remains to us of their literature. It is com- 
posed of eight distinct parts or books, compiled from various older 
works which have been lost, and pui'ports to be a revelation made 
by Ormazd (p. 98) to Zoroaster, ^ the founder of the Persian reMgion. 
The principal books are the Vendidad and the Yagna : the former 
contains a moral and ceremonial code somewhat corresponding to 
the Hebrew Pentateuch; the latter consists of prayers, hymns, 
etc., for use during sacrifice. The contents of the Zend-Avesta date 
from various ages, and portions were probably handed down by oral 
tradition for hundreds of years before being committed to writing. 

From the zend-avesta. 

" Zoroaster asked Aliura Mazda : ' Ahura Mazda, holiest spirit, creator of all exist- 
ent worlds, the truth loving! Wliat was, O Ahura Mazda, the word existing before 
the heaven, before the water, before the eartli, before the cow, before tJie tree, before 
the fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, before man the truthful, before the Devas and car- 
nivorous beasts, before the whole existing universe, before every good thing created 
by Ahura Mazda and springing from truth ? ' 

" Then answered Ahura Mazda : ' It was the All of the Creative Word, most h^ly 
Zoroaster. I will teach it thee. Existing before the heaven, before the water, before 
the earth,' etc. (as before). 

"'Such is the All of the Creative Word, most holy Zoroaster, that even when 
neither pronounced, nor recited, it is worth one hundred other proceeding prayers, 

1 Zoroaster was a reformer who lived in Bactria, perhaps as early as 1500 B. c. 
Little is known of his actual history. The legends ascribe to him a seclusion of 
twenty j-ears in a mountain cave, where he received his doctrines direct from 
Ormazd. His tenets, though overlaid by superstition, were remarkably pure and 
noble, and of all the ancient creeds approach the nearest to the inspired Hebr<?w 
faith. Their common hatred of idolatry formed a bond of sympathy between the 
early Persians aiwl the Jews, Ormazd and Jehovah being recognized as the same 
Lord God (Isa. xliv. 28; Ezra i. 2, 3). At the time of the Persian conquest by Alex- 
ander, the Zoroastrian books were said to number twenty-one volumes. Daring 
the five hundred years of foreign rule they were scattered and neglected. Under the 
Sassanian kings (226-Gol A. D.) the remaining fragments were carefully collected, and 
translated, with explanatory notes, into the literary language of the day. This trans- 
lation was called Avesta-u-Zend (text and comments). By some mistake the word 
"Zend" was applied to the original language of the text, and is now generall5' used 
in that sense : hence "Zend-Avesta." 



94 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 

neither pronounced, nor recited, nor chanted. And he, most holy Zoroaster, who in 
tliis existing world remembers the All of the Creative Word, utters it when remem- 
bered, chants it when uttered, celebrates when chanted, his soul will I thrice lead 
across the bridge to a better world, a better existence, better truth, better days. 
I pronounced this speech containing the Word, and it accomplished the creation of 
Heaven, before the creation of the water, of the earth, of the tree, of the four-footed 
beast, before the birth of the truthful, two-legged man.' " 

A Hymn.—" We worship Ahura Mazda, the pure, the master of purity. 

" We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds which are or shall 
be ; and we likewise keep clean and pure all that is good. 

"O Ahura Mazda, thou true, happy being! We strive to think, to speak, and to 
do only such actions as may be best fitted to promote the two lives [i. e., the life of 
the body and the life of the soul]. 

" We beseech the spirit of earth for the sake of these our best works [i. e., agricul- 
tare] to grant us beautiful aud fertile fields, to the believer as well as to the unbe- 
liever, to him who has riches as well as to him who has no possessions." 

Education.—^' To ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth," 
were the great ends of Persian education. When a boy was five 
years old, his training began. He was made to rise before dawn, 
to practice his exercises in running, slinging stones, and the use 
of the bow and javelin. He made long marches, exposed to all 
weathers, and sleeping in the open air. That he might learn to 
endure hunger, he was sometimes given but one meal in two days. 
When he was seven years old, he was taught to ride and hunt, in- 
cluding the ability to jump on and off his horse, to shoot the bow, 
and to use the javelin, all with his steed at full gallop. At the age 
of fifteen he became a soldier. Books and reading seem to have 
formed no part of an ordinary Persian education. The king him- 
self was no exception. His scribes learned his wishes, and then 
wrote his letters, edicts, etc., affixing the royal seal without calling 
upon him even to sign his name.^ 

Monuments and Art. — As the followers of Zoroaster worshiped 
in the open air, we need not look in Persia for temples, but must 
content ourselves with palaces and tombs. The palaces at Persep- 
olis2 were as magnificent as those at Nineveh and Babylon had 
been, though different in style and architecture. Like them they 
stood on a high platform, but the crude or burnt brick of Assyria 

1 "Occasionally, to beguile weary hours, a monarch may have had the ' Book of 
the Clironicles of the Kings of Persia and Media' read before him; but the kings 
tliemselves never opened a book or studied any branch of science or learning."— 
JiatvUnson. 

- Remains of a large palace have been discovered at Susa, whicli is supposed to 
be the identical one described in the Book of Esther. On the bases of the pillars it 
is stated that the palace was erected by Darius and Xerxes, but repaired by Artaxerxes 
Memuon, who added the iuscriptious. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



95 



and Babylon gave place to enormous blocks of hewn stone, i 
fastened with iron clamps. The terraced platform, and the broad, 
gently sloping, elaborately sculptured staircases, wide enough to 
allow ten horsemen to ride abreast, were exctedingly grand and 
imposing. The subjects of sculpture were much like those in As- 
s^y-ria : the king in combat with mythical monsters, or seated on his 
throne suiTOunded by his attendants; long processions of royal 
guards, or of captives bringing tribute ; and symbolical combats be- 



TfT^ 



)fiC iCh^ r 



^- 



'- ^ \r> '//. 



Vv- 



LJ S:. 



hm-mP-^ ^^p^ 



II.;.!-:. 






y/U 








II L ]-- 1,1. IM 



tween bulls and lions. Colossal winged and human-headed bulls, 
copied from Assyria, guarded the palace portals. For effect, the 
Persians depended upon elegance of form, richness of material, 
and splendor of coloring, rather than upon immense size, as did 
tiie Egyptians and Chaldeans. The Great Hall of Xerxes, how- 
ever, was larger than the Great Hall of Karuak, and in propor- 
tion and design far surpassed anything in Assyi'ia. What enam- 
eled brick was to Babylon, and alabaster seul^^ture to Assyria, the 
portico and pillar were to Persia. Forests of graceful columns, over 
sixty feet high, with richly carved bases and capitals, rose in hall 
and colonnade, between which were magnificent hangings, white, 

I An iilea borrowed from tlio <-on(iut're<l E^ryptiaiis, 



96 



MEDIA AND PERSIAo 






%' 



jji 



^L 



lOMli Oh CIKU.S Al rASAK(.Al>A 



green, and violet, '' fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to 
silver rings and pillars of marble " (Esther i. 6). Pavements " of 
red, blue, white, and black marble," with carpets from Sardis spread 
for the king to walk upon ; walls covered with plates of gold and 
silver 5 the golden throne of the king,under an embroidered canopy, 
supported by pillars of gold inlaid with precious stones ; a golden 
palm-tree ; gold and silver couches; and over the royal bed a golden 
vine, each grape being a precious stone of enormous value, — are 
recorded as appurtenances to the royal palace. The Persian king, 
like the Egyptian, attended during his lifetime to the building of 
his last resting-place. The most remarkable of the Persian tombs 

is that of Cyrus at PasargadfB, 
which has been called ^'a house 
' — _ upon a pedestal." Upon a pyram- 
idal base made of huge blocks of 
beautiful white marble was erected a 
house of the same material, crowned 
with a stone roof. Here, in a small 
chamber entered by a low and nar- 
row door, were deposited in a golden 
coflin the remains of the great con- 
queror. A colonnade of twenty -four pillars, whose broken shafts 
are still seen, seems to have inclosed the sacred spot. With this 
exception, all the royal sepulchers that remain are rock tombs, 
similar in situation to those in Egypt. Unlike those, however, they 
were made conspicuous, as if intended to catch the eye of an ob- 
server glancing up the mountain side. A 
spot difficult of approach having been 
chosen, the recessed chamber was ex- 
cavated in the solid rock, and marked by 
a porticoed and sculptured front, some- 
what in the shape of a Greek cross. The 
sarcophagi, cut in the rock floor of the 
recesses, were covered by stone slabs. 

Persian Architecture is distinguished for 
simplicity and regularity, in most build- 
ings one half being the exact duplicate of 
the other. Although many ideas were bor- 
rowed from the nations we have already 
considered, Persian art, in its best features, such as the grand 
sculptured staircases and the vast groves of tall and slender 




THK GKEAT STAIRCASE AT 
PEUSEPOLIS. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 97 

pillars,! with their peculiar ornamentation, was strikingly original. 
The Persian fancy seems to have run toward the grotesque and 
monstrous. Wlien copying nature, the drawing of animals was 
much superior to that of the human form. Statuary was not 
attempted. 

The Practical Arts and Inventions were almost entirely want- 
ing. No enameling, no pottery, no metal castings, no wooden or 
ivory carvings, were made. A few spear and arrow heads, coins, 
and gem cylinders are all the small objects which have been dis- 
covered among the ruins. Persia thus presents a marked contrast 
to the other nations we have been studying. It was, indeed, the 
boast of the Persians that they needed not to toil, since by their 
skill in arms they could command every foreign production. *' The 
carpets of Babylon and Sardis, the shawls of Kashmir and India, 
the fine linen of Borsippa and Egypt, the ornamental metal-work 
of Greece, the coverlets of Damascus, the mushns of Babylonia, 
and the multiform manufactures of the Phoenician towns," poured 
continually into Persia as tributes, gifts, or merchandise, and left 
among the native population no ambition for home industries. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — The Persian was keen-witted and ingeni- 
ous, generous, warm-hearted, hospitable, and eom-ageous. He was 
bold and dashing in war ; sparkling, vivacious, and given to repartee 
in social life. Except in tlie presence of the king, where no sadness 
was allowed, he never checked the expression of his emotions, but 
childishly, regardless of all spectators, laughed and shouted when 
pleased, or wept and shrieked when in sorrow. In this he was very 
unlike the Babylonian gentleman, who studied calmness and repose 
of manner. He was self-indulgent and luxurious, but chary of debt. 
The early Persians were remarkable for truthfulness, lying being 
abhorred as the special characteristic of the evil spirit. 

Religion. — That of the Persians was Mazdeism, from Ahura 
Mazda (Ormazd), their gi-eat and good god ; it was also called Zoroas- 
trianism, after its founder (p. 93). That of the Medes was Magism, 
so named from the priests, who were of a caste called Magi. 

Mazdeism taught the existence of two great principles, — one good, 
the other evil, — which were in perpetual and eternal conflict. 

1 In Assyria the pillar was almost uukuowu, while in Eg3'pt it was twice as broad 
in proportion to its height as in Persia. 



98 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



Ormazd was tlio ''all-i)orfect, all-powerful, all-wise, all-beautiful, 
all-pure; sole source of true knowledge, of real happiness; him who 
hath created us, him who sustains us, the wisest of all intelligences " 
{Yagna). Having created the earth, he placed man thereon to pre- 
serve it. He was represented by the sun, fire, and light. 




SYMUOL OF ORMAZI). 
(Copied by tht; Persians from tliat of the Assyrian god Asshiir. ) 

Aliriman was the author of evil and death, causing sin in man, and 
barrenness upon the earth. Hence the cultivation of the soil was con- 
sidered a religious duty, as promoting the interests of Ormazd and 
defeating the malice of his opposer. Those who yielded to the seduc- 
tions of Ahriman were unable to cross the terrible bridge to which all 
souls were conducted the third night after death ; they fell into the 
gulf below, where they were forced to live in utter darkness and feed 
on poisoned banquets. The good were assisted across the bridge by 
an angel, who led them to golden thrones in the eternal abode of hap- 
piness. Thus this religion, like the Egyptian, contained the doctrine 
of the immortality of the soul and of future reward and punishment. 
Ormazd and Ahriman had each his councilors and emissaries, but they 
were simply genii or spirits, and not independent gods, like the lesser 
deities of the Egyptians and Assyrians. 

Zoroastrian Worship consisted mainly in prayer and praises to 
Ormazd and his court, the recital of Gathas or hymns, and the Homa 
ceremony. In the last, during the recitation of certain prayers, the 
priests extracted the juice of a plant called ^^homa," l formally ofifei- 
ing the liquid to the sacrificial fire, after which a small portion was 
drunk by one of the priests, and the rest by the worshipers. 

Magism taught not only the worship of Ormazd, but also that of 
Ahriman, who, under another name, was the serpent-god of the Tura- 
nians. In Media, Ahriman was the principal object of adoration, 
since a good god, so it was reasoned, would not hurt men, but an evil 



1 Akiud of milkweed, sometimes called the " moon-plant." In India it was called 
' soma," and was similarly used. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 99 

one must be appeased by honor and sacrifice. Sorcery and incanta- 
tions, which were expressly forbidden by Zoroaster, were the out- 
growth of the Median faitli. 

The Magi apparently held their office by hereditary succession. In 
time, Magism and Mazdeism became so assimilated that the Magi were 
accepted as the national priests of Persia. As wo have seen the Egyp- 
tian religion characterized by animal and sun worshiji, and the Chal- 
deo-Ass}Tian by that of the sun, moon, and planets, so we find the 
Persiau distinguished by the icorshij) of the elements. The sun, fire, 
air, earth, and water were all objects of adoration and sacrifice. On 
lofty heights, whence they could be seen from afar, stood the fire- 
altars, crowned by the sacred flame, believed to have been kindled 
from Heaven, and never suffered to expire. It was guarded by the 
Magi, who so jealously kept its purity that to blow upon it with the 
breath was a capital offense. By these holy fires, flickering on lonely 
mountain-tops, the Magi, clad in white robes and with half-concealed 
faces, chanted day after day their weird incantations, and, mysteri- 
ously waving before the awe-stricken spectators a bundle of tamarisk 
twigs (divining-rods), muttered their pretended prophecies. 

Sacrifice was not offered at the altar of the eternal flame, but on fires 
lighted from it, a horse being the favorite victim. A small part of 
the fat having been consumed by the fire, and the soul of the animal 
having been, according to the Magi, accepted by the god, the body was 
cut into joints, boiled and eaten, or sold by the worshipers. Sacri- 
fices to water were offered by the side of lakes, rivers, and fountains, 
care being taken that not a drop of blood should touch the sacred 
element. No refuse was allowed to be cast into a river, nor was it 
even lawful to wash the hands in a stream. The worship of these 
elements rendered the disposal of the dead a difficult matter. They 
could not be burnt, for that would pollute fire ; nor thrown into the 
river, for that would defile water ; nor buried in the gi'ound, for that 
would corrupt earth. The Magi solved the problem by giving their 
own dead to be devoured by beasts of prey. The people revolted from 
this, and incased the lifeless bodies of their friends in a coating of 
wax ; having made this concession to the sacred earth, they ventured 
to bury their dead in its bosom. 

Domestic Life. — The early Persians were noted for their simple 
diet. They ate but one meal a day, and drank only water. With 
their successes their habits changed. They still ate only one meal 
each day, but it began early and lasted till night. Water gave place 
to wine, and each man prided himself on the quantity he could drink. 
Drimkenness at last became a sort of duty. Every serious family 
council ended in a debauch, and once a year, at the feast of IMithras, 
part of the royal display was the intoxication of the king. Love of 



100 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 




OKDINAKY PERSIAN 
COSTUME. 



dress increased, and to the flowered robes and tunics, embroidered 
trousers, tiaras, and shoes of their Median predecessors, the Per- 
sians now added the hitherto unwonted fineries of gloves and stock- 
ings. They wore massive gold collars and bracelets, and studded the 
golden sheaths and handles of their swords and daggers with gems. 
They not only drank wine from gold and silver 
cups, as did their fallen neighbors the Babylonians, 
but they plated and inlaid the tables themselves 
with the precious metals. Even the horses felt the 
growing extravagance and champed bits made of 
gold instead of bronze. Every rich man's house 
was crowded with servants, each confining himself 
to a single duty. Not the least of these were the 
"adorners," who applied cosmetics to their mas- 
ter's face and hands, colored his eyelids, curled his 
hair and beard, and adjusted his wig. The perfume- 
bearer, who was an indispensable valet, took charge 
of the perfumes and scented ointments, a choice 
selection of which was a Persian gentleman's pride. 
Wonioi were kept secluded in their own apartments, called the 
harem or seraglio, and were allowed no communication with the other 
sex.l So rigid was etiquette in this respect, 
that a Persian wife might not even see her own 
father or brother. When she rode, her litter was 
closely curtained, yet even then it was a capital 
offense for a man simply to pass a royal litter in 
the street. 2 

TJie Eing^s Household numbered 15,000 persons. 
The titles of some of his servants reveal the des- 
potism and dangers of the times. Such were the 
"Eyes" and "Ears," who were virtually spies 
and detectives; and the "Tasters," who tried 
every dish set before the king, to prove it not 
poisoned. A monarch w^ho held the life of his 
subjects so lightly as did the Persian kings 
might well be on the alert for treachery and 
conspiracy against himself. Hence the court 
ANCIENT PERSIAN customs and etiquette were extremely rigorous. 

SILVER COIN. Even to touch the king's carpet in crossing the 




1 Even at the present day it is considered a gross iudeconira to ask a Persian 
after the liealth of his wife. 

2 It is curious to notice that the same custom obtained in Russia a few centuries 
ago. In 1674 two chamberlains were deprived of their offices for liaving accidentally- 
met the carriage of the Tsaritsa Natalia. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 101 

courts was a grave offense ; and to come into his chamber unan- 
nounced, unless the royal scepter was extended in i)ardon, was punished 
by instant death. Every courtier prostrated himself in the atti- 
tude of worship on entering the royal presence, and kept his hands 
hidden in his sleeve during the entire interview. Even the king was 
not exempt from restrictions of etiquette. He was required to live 
in seclusion ; never to go on foot beyond the palace walls ; and never 
to revoke an order or draw back from a promise, however he might 
desire it. He took his meals alone, excepting occasionally, when he 
might have the queen and one or two of his children for company. 
When he gave a great banquet, his guests were divided into two 
classes ; the lower were entertained in an outer court, and the higher, 
in a chamber next his own, where he could see them through the cur- 
tain wliich screened himself. Guests were assigned a certain amount 
of food; the greater the number of dishes, the higher the honor con- 
ferred ; what was left on their jilates they were at liberty to take home 
to their families. Sometimes at a "Banquet of Wine," a select num- 
ber were allowed to drink in the royal presence, but not of the same 
wine or on the same terms wdth the king ; he reclined on a golden- 
footed couch, and sipped the costly Mdno of Helbou ; they were seated 
on the floor, and were served a cheaper beverage. 

The Persians in War. — Weapons, etc. — The Persian footman 
fought with bow and arrows, a sword and si^ear, and occasionally with 
a battle-ax and sling. He defended himself with a wicker shield, 
similar to the Assyrian, and almost large enough to cover him. He 
wore a leather tunic and trousers, low boots, and a felt cap ; some- 
times he was protected by a coat of mail made of scale-armor, or of 
quilted linen, like the Egj^ptian corselet. In the heavy cavalry, both 
horse and horsemen wore metal coats of mail, which made their move- 
ments slow and hesitating ; the light cavalry were less burdened, and 
were celebrated for quick and dexterous maneuvering. The special 
weapon of the horseman was a javelin, — a short, strong spear, with 
a wooden shaft and an iron point. Sometimes he was armed with a 
long leather thong, which he used with deadly effect as a lasso. The 
war-chariots, which we have seen so popular in Egyptian and Assp'ian 
armies, were regarded by the Persians with disfavor. Kings and 
princes, however, rode in them, both on the march and in action, and 
sometimes a chariot force was brought into the field. The wheels of 
the Persian chariot were armed with scythes, but this weapon does not 
seem to have caused the destruction intended, since, as it was drawn 
by from two to four horses, and always contained two or more occu- 
pants, it furnished so large a mark for the missiles of the enemy, that 
a chariot advance was usually checked before reaching the opposing 
line of battle. Military engines seem rarely if ever used, and the 



102 



MEDIA AND PERSIA, 



siege-towers and battering-rams, so familiar in Egyptian and Assyrian 
sculptures, are never mentioned in Persian inscriptions. Elephants 
were sometimes employed in battle ; and at Sardis, Cyrus gained his 
victory over Croesus by frightening the Lydian horses with an array 
of camels. 

Organization of the Army. — The Persians trusted for success mainly 
to numbers. The army was commanded personally by the king, or 
some one appointed by him. In the division of men under officers a 
decimal system prevailed, so that, grading upward, there were the cap- 
tains of tens, of hundreds, of thousands, and of tens of thousands. 
Sometimes a million men were brought into service. ^ 




TEIWIAN KOOT-SOLDIEUS. 

On the March. — The Persians, like the Assyrians, avoided fighting 
in winter, and led out their armies in early spring. They marched 
only by day, and, as before the time of Darius there were neither 
roads nor bridges, their immense cavalcade made slow progress. The 
baggage-train, composed of a vast multitude of camels, horses, mules, 



1 Tlie troops were drawn from the entire empire, ami were marslialecl in tlie 
field according to nations, eacli tribe accoutered in its own fasliion. Here were seen 
the gilded breastplates and scarlet kilts of the Persians and Medes ; there the woolen 
shirt of the Arab, the leathern jerkin of tlie Berber, or the cotton dress of the native 
of Hindustan. Swart savage Ethiops from the Upper Nile, adorned with a war-paint 
of white and red, and scantily clad with the skins of leopards or lions, fought in one 
place with huge clubs, arrows tipped with stone, and spears terminating in the horn 
of an antelope. In another, Scyths, with their loose, spangled trousers and their 
tall pointed caps, dealt death around from their unerring blows; while near them 
Assyrians, helmeted, and wearing corselets of qrilted linen, wielded the tough spear 
or t'le still more formidable iron mace. Rude weapons, like cane bows, unfeathered 
arrows, and stakes hardened at one end in the fire, were seen side by side with keen 
swords and daggers of the best steel, the finished prof"uctions of the worksliops of 
Pdoenicia and Greece. Here the bronze helmet was surmounted with the ears and 
ho- ns of ar ox ; there it was superseded by a fox-skin, a leathern or wooden skull-cap, 
or a head-dress fashioned out of a liorse's scalp. Besides horses and mules, elephants, 
camels, and wild asses diversified the scene, and rendered it still more strange anti 
wonderful to the eye of a European.— jBawlin«on. 



SUMMARY. 103 

oxen, etc., dragging heavy carts or bearing great packs, was sent on 
in advance, followed by about half the troops in a long, continuous 
column. Then, after a considerable break, carne a picked guard of a 
thousand horse and a thousand foot, preceding the most precious 
treasures of the nation, — its sacred emblems and its king. The former 
consisted of the holy horses and cars, and perhaps the silver altars 
on whieli flamed the eternal fire. The monarch followed, riding on 
a car drawn by Nisa?an steeds. After him came a second guard of a 
thousand foot and a thousand horse ; then ten thousand picked foot — 
probably the famous '^Immortals" (p. 130) — and ten thousand picked 
horsemen. Another break of nearly a quarter of a mile ensued, and 
then the remainder of the troops completed the array. The wives of 
the chief officers often accompanied the army, and were borne in 
luxurious litters amid a crowd of eunuchs and attendants. On enter- 
ing a hostile land, the baggage-train was sent to the rear, horsemen 
were throwm out in front, and other effective changes made. 

In Battle the troops were massed in deep ranks, the bravest in front. 
Chariots, if used, led the attack, followed by the infantry in the center, 
and the cavalry on the wings. If the line of battle were once broken, 
the army lost heart ; the commander usually set the example of flight, 
and a general stampede ensued. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — In the 7th century B. c. the hardy Medes 
threw off the Assyrian yoke and captured Nineveh. But the court of 
Astyages became as luxurious as that of Asshurbanipal had been, and 
the warlike Persians pushed to the front. Under Cyrus they conquered 
Media, Lydia, Babylonia, and founded an empire reaching from India 
to the confines of Egypt. Cambyses, helped by Phoenicians, subdued 
Egypt, but most of his army perished in the Ethiopia desert. Mean- 
while a Magian usurped the throne in the name of Smerdis, the mur- 
dered brother of Cambyses. Darius unseated the Pseudo-Smerdis, and 
organized the empire which Cyrus had conquered. He invaded India, 
Scythia, and finally Greece, but his hosts were overthrown on the field 
of Marathon (see p. 126). 

2. Civilization. — Every Persian, even though one of the Seven 
Princes, held his life at the mercy of the king. Truthful and of simple 
tastes in his early national life, he grew in later days to be luxurious 
and effeminate. Keen-witted and impulsive, having little love for 
books or study, his education was with the bow, on the horse, and m 
the field. In architecture he delighted in broad, sculptui-ed staircases, 
and tall, slender columns. He expressed some original taste and de- 

B Q H— 7 



104 



MEDIA AND PERSIA. 



sign, but his art was largely borrowed from foreign nations, and his 
inventions were few or none. He wrote in cuneiform characters, using 
a pen and prepared skins for epistles and private documents ; his public 
records were chiseled in stone. He had little respect for woman, and 
kept his wife and daughters confined in the harem. He went to war 
with a A^ast and motlev oavalr'ade. armed by nations, and relied upon 




I'HE RUINS OF I'EKSEl'OMS. 



overwhelming numbers for success. He worshiped the elements, 
and the Magi — his priests — guarded a holy flame on mountain heights. 
When he died, his friends incased his body in wax and buried it, or 
exposed it to be destroyed by the vultures and wild beasts. 

READING REFERENCES. 

The General Ancient Histories named on pp. 44 and 72.— Eaivlinso7Vs Five Great 
Monarchies.— Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis.—Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and 
Persepolis restored.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.—Haug's Essays on the Sacred 
Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees.—Ehers's Egyptian Princess (p. 44) 
contains a vivid description of the times of Cambyses and the PseudoSmerdis.—Eaw- 
linson's Translation of Herodotus.— Miiller's Sacred Books of the East ( Vols. IV. and 
v.). —Benjamin's Story of Persia.— Media and Persia in the various Cyclopcedias. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B.C. 

Cyaxares destroyed Nineveh •'Oe ? 

Cyrus subdued the Medes ^^ 

Cyrus defeated Croesus, aud captured Sardis 547? 

Cyrus subdued the far East 553-540 

Cyrus captured Babylon 538 

Cambyses ascended the Throne 529 

Cambyses conquered Egypt 527 

Darius Hystaspes ascended the Throne 521 

Darius invaded Greece 490 



INDIA. 



The Hindoos, like the Persians, were Aryans. In all 
respects, except color, they resemble the Europeans. They 
are thoug-ht to have emigrated from Iran (p. 12) earlier than 
1500 B. c. They never materially influenced the steady flow 
of histor}^,^ and are only incidentally mentioned when for- 
eigners went thither for purposes of trade or conquest. The 
first authentic event recorded is that of the invasion of 
Darius (518 b. c), and the next that of Alexander (p. 152). 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

Civilization. — The character of their civilization was early 
stereotyped. By mixing with the dark races of the country, the 
fair-skinned invaders lost the Aryan progressiveness and energy. 
What Alexander found in India meets the traveler there to-day, — 
a teeming, peaceable population; fabulous riches; arts and in- 
dustries passing unchanged from generation to generation ; and 
a rehgion whose rigorous rules and ceremonies regulate all the 
details of life. The products of Indian looms were as eagerly 
sought anciently as now; and the silks, pearls, precious ^-^^tones, 
spices, gold, and ivory of India have in successive ages enriched 
Phoenicia, the Italian republics, and England. 

Society. — Castes were established by the early Aryans: (1) the 
Brahmans, or priests, who had the right of interpreting the sacred 
books, and possessed a monopoly of knowledge ; (2) the Kshatriyas, 

1 There is little, if anything, in the Indian annals worthy the name of history. 
The Hindoo mind, though acute and intelligent, is struck, not bj' the reasonableness 
or truth of a statement, but by its grandeur. Thus, in the Brahman mythology we 
hear of Rdhu, an exalted being, 76,800 miles high and 19,200 miles across the shoul- 
ders. Wliile the Egyptian engraved on stone the most trivial incident of dailj' lite, 
the Uindoo disregarded currcut cveuts, and was absorbed in uietaphysical subtleties. 



106 INDIA. 

or soldiers; (3) the Vaisya, or traders and farmers; and (4) the 
Sudras, or laborers, who consisted of the conquered people, and 
were slaves. The Pariahs, or outcasts, ranked below all the others, 
and were condemned to perform the most menial duties. Inter- 
marriage between the castes was forbidden, and occupations de- 
scended rigidly from father to son. 

Literature. — The Sanskrit (perfected), the language of the 
conquerors, is preserved among the Hindoos, as is the Latin with 
us, through grammars and dictionaries. Its hterature is rich in 
fancy and exalted poetry, and embalms the precious remains of 
that language which was nearest the speech of our Aryan fore- 
fathers. Thousands of Sanskrit works are still in existence. No 
man's life is long enough to read them all. A certain Hindoo 
king is said to have had the contents of his library condensed into 
12,000 volumes ! A portion of the Vedas, the sacred books of 
Brahma, was compiled 1200 B. c. The Rig-Veda contains 1028 
hymns, invoking as gods the sun, moon, and other powers of 
nature. The following extract is a beautiful litany: — 

1. " Let me not yet, O Varnna [tlie god of water], enter into the house of clay. 
Have mercy. Almighty, have mercy! 

2. " If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by wind, have mercy. Almighty, 
have mercy ! 

3. " Tlirough want of strength, thou Strong One, have I gone to the wrong shore. 
Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! 

4. " Thirst came on the worshiper, in the midst of the waters. Have mercy. 
Almighty, have mercy ! 

5. " Wherever we men, O Varuna, commit an offense before the heavenly host; 
wherever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, have mercy, Almighty, have 
mercy ! " 

Religion. — Brahmanism, the Hindoo faith, teaches pantheism,'^ 
a system which makes God the soul of the universe, so that '^what- 
ever we taste, or see, or smell, or feel, is God." It also contains 
the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; i. e., that after death 
good spirits will be absorbed into the Supreme Being, but wicked 
ones will be sent back to occupy the bodies of animals to begin 
afresh a round of purification and elevation. The idea of prayer, 
meditation, sacrifice, and penance,^ in order to secure this final 

1 The doctrine of the Hindoo Trinity, i. e., that God reveals himself in three forms,— 
Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer,— is now known 
to be a modern one. It grew out of an attempt to harmonize all the views that were 
hostile to Buddhism. 

2 Travelers tell us that Hindoo fanatics carry this idea of penance to such an 
extent as to keep their hands clinched until the nails grow through the palms, and to 
hold their arms upright until they become paralyzed. 



THE CIVILIZATION, 



107 



absorption which is the highest good, constitutes the key to Brah- 
manisni, and explains why in its view the hermit and devotee 
are the truly wise. By 
acts of benevolence and 
sacrifice performed in 
different stages of trans- 
migration, one may ac- 
cumulate a vast stock of 
merit, so as finally to at- 
tain to a godlike intelli- 
gence. Several of these 
divine sages are believed 
to have arisen from time 
to time. 

Buddhism (500 B. c.) 
was an effort to reform 
Brahmanism by incul- 
cating a benevolent and 
humane code of morals. 
It teaches the necessity 
of a pure life, and holds 
that by the practice of 
six transcendent virtues 
— alms, morals, science, 
energy, patience, and 
charity — a person may 
hope to reach Nirvana or 
eternal repose. Buddha, 
the founder of this sys- 
tem, is said to have '' previously existed in four hundred millions 
of worlds. During these successive transmigrations he was almost 
every sort of fish, fly, animal, and man. He had acquired such a 
sanctity millions of centuries before as to permit him to enter Nir- 
vana, but he preferred to endure the curse of existence in order to 
benefit the race." Buddha is an historic character. His life was 
marvelously pure and beautiful; but his religion was a practi- 
cal atheism, and his teachings led to a belief in annihilation and 
not absorption in Brahma, or God, as the chief end of existence. The 
Buddhists were finally expelled from India. But they took refuge 
in Ceylon ; their missionaries earned their doctrines over a large 
part of the East, and Buddhism now constitutes the religion of 




BUUDH18T PKIESIS. 



108 



INDIA. 



over one fourth of the world's population. There are almost end- 
less modifications of both these faiths, and they abound in senti- 
ments imaginative and subtle beyond conception. Mingled with 
this lofty ideality is the grossest idolatry, and most grotesque 
images are the general objects of the Hindoo worship. 

The Sacred Writings of the Hindoos contain much that is simple 
and beautiful, yet, like all such heathen literature, they are full of 
silly and repulsive statements. Thus the Institutes of Vishnu declare 
that '^ cows are auspicious purifiers ; " that " drops of water falling 




A HUAllMAN AT I'UAVRK. 

from the horns of a cow have the power to expiate all sin ; " and 
that " scratching the back of a cow destroys all guilt." The Brah- 
mans assert that prayer, even when offered from the most unworthy 
motives, compels the gods to grant one's wishes. The Institutes of 
Gautama (Buddha) forbid the student to recite the text of the Veda 
'' if the wind whirls up the dust in the day-time." The Buddhists 
declare that all animals, even the vilest insects, as well as the 
seeds of plants, have souls. 

READI NG REFERENCES. 



Miiller's Sacred Books of the East, and History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.— 
Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies.— LenormanVs Manuel, etc.. Vol. III. - 
Johnson's Oriental Religions, India.— Taylor's Student's 3Ianual of the History of 
India.— Bayard Taylor's India, China, and Japan.— Articles on India, etc., in Apple- 
tons', Zell's, and Johnson's CyclopoHlias, and Encyclopcedia Britannica. 



CHINA. 



The Chinese were Turanians (p. 10). Their historical 
records claim to reach far back of all kno^\ii chronology, 
but these are largely mythical. Good authorities place the 
foundation of the empire at about 2800 B. c. Since then 
more than twenty dynasties of kings have held sway. From 
early times the country has been disturbed by incursions 
of the Tartars (Huns or Mongols). The Emperor Che 
Hwang-te, the Chinese national hero, expelled these wild 
barbarians, and to keep them out began (214 b. c.) the Great 
Wall of China along the northern frontier. This wall is fif- 
teen to thirty feet high, mde enough for six horsemen to ride 
abreast upon the top, and extends over mountains and valleys 
a distance of over twelve hundred miles. Che Hwang-te 
died six years before it was finished. 

In the 13th century the great Asiatic conqueror Genghis 
Khan invaded the empire, and paved the way for the estab- 
lishment of the first Mongol dynasty, which held the king- 
dom for nearly one hundi'ed years. During this period the 
famous traveler Marco Polo (Brief Hist. U. S., p. 19) visited 
China, where he remained seventeen years. On his return 
to Europe he gave a glo\Wng description of the magnificence 
of the Eastern mcmarch's court. Again, in the 17tli century, 
the Tartars obtained tlie throne, and founded the dynasty 
>yhich now governs the empu^e. 



110 



CHINA. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 

Civilization. — The Chinese have always kept themselves isolat- 
ed from the other nations : consequently China has influenced his- 
tory even less than has India. Law and tradition have done for the 
former what a false religion has for the latter. Everything came to 
a stand-still ages ago.^ The dress, the plan of the house, the mode 
of bowing, the minutest detail of life, are regulated by three thou- 




THE GREAT WALL OF CH 



sand ceremonial laws of almost immemorial usage. No man pre- 
sumes to introduce any improvement or change. The only hope is to 
become as wise as the forefathers by studying the national classics. 



1 Herodotus says that in dealing with foreigners the Chinese were wont to deposit 
theii" wool or silk in a certain place, and then go away. The merchants came np, laid 
beside the goods the snm of money they were willing to pay, and retired. The Chi- 
nese then ventured out again, and, if satisfied, took the money and left the goods; 
if not, they left the money and carried off the goods. There is a marked resemblance 
between this people and the ancient Egyptians. Both have the same stereotyped 
character, tlu^ same exceptional mode of writing, the same unwillingness to mingle 
with surrounding nations, the same mode of reckoning time by dynasties, apd th© 
same enjoyment in the contemplation of death. 



THE CIVILIZATION, 



111 



Such is the esteem in which agriculture is held, that once a year 
the emperor exhibits himself in public, holding a plow. The in- 
genuity of the Chinese is proverbial. They anticipated by centu- 
ries many of the most important inventions of modern Europe, 
such as gunpowder, printing, paper, porcelain, and the use of the 
compass. A Chinese chart of the stars represents the heavens 
as seen in that country 2300 b. c, thus showing how early astron- 
omy was cultivated by this people. 

Tlie Literature is very extensive. 
The writings of Confucius (551^78 
B. c.) are the chief books perused 
in the schools. All appointments 
to the civil service are based on ex- 
aminations, which include the prep- 
aration of essays and poems, and 
the writing of classical selections. 

Three Beligions, Buddhism, Tao- 
ism or Rationalism, and Confu- 
cianism, exist. Such is the liberty 
of faith, that a man may believe 
in them all, while the mass of the 
people will pray in the temples of 
any one indiscriminately. All these 
faiths agree in the worship) of one's 
ancestors. Buddhism was introduced 
from India (p. 107), and by its gor- 
geous ritual and its speculative doc- 
trines, powerfully appeals to the 
imagination of its devotees. Taoism traditional i.um.m..-.-. vi- . wm , > ,, .-,. 
is a religion of the supreme reason 

alone. Confucianism is named from its founder, who taught a 
series of elevated moral precepts, having reference solely to man's 
present, and not his future, state. Confucius died eight years 
before the birth of the Greek philosopher Socrates (p. 17J:). 

Sayings of Confucius.—" He who exercises government by means of his virtue 
may be comparefl to the north polar star which keeps its place, au<l all tlio (other) 
stars turn towards it." 

" What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to otlurs." 

" I am not concerned that I liave no place (office) ; I am concerned how I may fit 
myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known ; I seek to be worthy to be 
known." 

"Slow in words and earnest in action. Act before speaking, and then speak ac- 
cording to your actions," 




112 



CHINA. 



Extract from the Classic of Filial piety.— "The services of love and rev- 
erence to parents when alive, and those of grief and sorrow to them -when dead :^ 
these completely discharge the fundamental duty of living men." 

The Chinese call their country the " Middle Kingdom," from a notion that it is 
in the center of the world. Their map of the globe is a parallelogram, of the habit- 
able part of which China occupies nine tenths or more. " I felicitate myself," says a 
Chinese essayist, " that I was born in China, and not beyond the seas in some remote 
part of the earth, where the people, far removed from the converting maxims of the 
ancient kings, and ignorant of the domestic relations, are clothed with the leaves of 
plants, eat wood, and live in the holes of the earth." 



READING REFERENCES. 

DooUttle's Social Life of the Chinese— Loomis's Confucius and tTiP. Chinese 
Classics.— Collie's Four Books (a Translation of Chinese Classical Works).— Thornton's 
History of China.— Williams's Middle Kingdom.— Legge's Religions of China.— John- 
son's Oriental Religions ; China.— Articles on China and Confucius in Appletons\ 
Zell'8, and Johnson's Cyclopcedias and Encyclopcedia Britannica. 




CHINESE TEMPLE 




J.WELLS, DEL, 




Colophot 
^ SAMOS 



^*'<?*V \°'^''^n ^^'^'Sta^^C?/'* "M/ ^E08l. ^ ^ SAMOS 

o~.=3J^ %4* *D0NU8A., CALrMNA..SL ' 



eos -ifl/./. ! _ 



/^ ^ 

<? X' w *W PAROS I. _ 

" \ V 8ERIPH0S I. ^ c<rtp> J(#%NAXOS I 

ON ^ ^ s,PH.08..t .^C^fl. *oo...... .""^ •-'%, 

■ > (^ CIMOCOS I I 

*a^^ HER'^cv.^iS- "^ -,«;i»» uebinThos I. 

ME.offP ^^^^.OS,. ^„,,3, COS 

A '^Malea Prom. pholegandros i. ''^os // „ ^ fiLA,^'*)- /!) ** 






CYTHERA 



ASTYPAL/tA I. \<^^ ^ » - 

ANAPHE I. 4te TEL08 iT^ / 



Criumetopo 
Prom. 





VCARPATHOS 



RUSSELL * eTRUTHfins, EMQ-ft N.Y. 



GREECE. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

Seat of Civilization Changed. — Thus far we have 
traced the beginnings of civilization among the oldest peoples 
of antiquit3^ Oin* study has been confined to the Orient. 
We now tui'n to Europe. Its history, so far as we know, 
began in Greece. The story of that little peninsula became, 
about the time of the Persian wars (p. 91), the record of 
ci\alization and progress, to which the history of the East is 
thenceforth but an occasional episode. 

The Difference between Eastern and Western 
Civilization is marked. The former rose to a considerable 
height, but, fettered by despotism, caste, and polygamy, was 
soon checked. The monarchs were absolute, the empii-es 
vast, and the masses passive. In Greece, on the contrary, 
we find the people astir, every power of the mind in f idl 
play, and little states aU aglow with patriotic ardor. Assy- 
rian art, Egyptian science, and the Phoenician alphabet w^ere 
absorbed, but only as seeds for a new and l)etter growth. 
Much of the life we live to-day, with its political, social, and 

Geographical Questions.— ^onrnX Greece. Name the principal Grecian states ; 
the principal Grecian colonies (map, p. 11) ; the chief islands in the jEge'an Sea. 
Locate the Peloponnesus; Arcadia. Where was Ionia? ^Eolis? Athens? Sparta? 
Thebes? Argos? Corinth? Delphi? Marathon? Plataea? The pass of Ther- 
mopylai? Uinm The Hellespont? The isle of Rhodes? Mount Parnassus? 
ValeofTempel MountOssa? Mount Pelion? Salamis Island? Syracuse? Magna 
Graicia? Chajrouea? 



114 GREECE. 

intellectual advantages j its music, painting, oratory, and 
sculpture; its thirst for knowledge, and its free institu- 
tions, — was kindled on the shores of the ^ge^an Sea, was 
transmitted by the Greek to the Roman, by him to the Teu- 
ton, and so handed down to us. 

The Geographical Features of Greece had much to 
do with fixing the character of its inhabitants. The coast 
was indented, like no other, with bays having bold promon- 
tories reaching far out to sea, and forming excellent harbors. 
Nature thus afforded every inducement to a sea-faring life. 
In striking contrast to the vast alluvial plains of the Nile 
and the Euphrates, the land was cut up by almost impassable 
mountain ranges, isolating each little valley, and causing 
it to develop its peculiar life. A great variety of soil and 
climate also tended to produce a versatile people. 

The Early Inhabitants were our Aryan kinsfolk 
(p. 12). The Pelasgians,^ a simple, agricultural people, were 
the first to settle the country. Next the Helle'nes, a warlike 
race, conquered the land. The two blended, and gave rise to 
the Grecian language and civilization, as did in later times 
the Norman and Anglo-Saxon to the English. 

Hellas and Hellenes. — The Greeks did not use the 
name by which we know them, but called their country 
Hellas, and themselves Hellenes. Even the settlements in 
Asia Minor, and in the isles of the ^ge'an and Mediter- 
ranean, were what Freeman happily styles "patches of 
Hellas." All those nations whose speech they could not 
understand they called Barbarians. 

Grecian Unity. — The different Grecian states, though 
always jealous and often fighting, had much in common. 



1 Remaifls of the Pelasgian architecture still survive. They are rude, massive 
stone structures. The ancients considered them the work of the Cyclops,— a fabulous 
race of giants, who had a single eye in the middle of the forehead. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 115 

All spoke the same language, though there were several 
dialects. They had many common customs, and a com- 
mon inheritance in the poems of Homer (p. 162) and the 
glory of the Hellenic name. There were, moreover, two 
great "holding-points" for all the Greeks. One was the 
half-yearly meeting of the Amphictyonic Council,^ and the 
other the national games or festivals (p. 186). All Hellenes 
took part in the latter, and thus the colonies were united to 
the parent state. The Grecian calendar itself was based on 
the quadrennial gathering at Olympia, the First Olyimpiad 
dating from 776 B. c.^ 

Legendary History. — The early records of Greece are 
mythical. It is not worth the effort to pick out the kernels 
of truth around which these romantic legends grew. They 
chronicle the achievements of the Heroic Age of the poets. 
Then occurred the Ai-gonautic Expedition in search of the 
Golden Fleece, the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the Siege of 
"Troy divine," the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar, and the 
exploits of heroes whose adventures have been familiar to 
each succeeding age, and are to-d^ studied by the youth of 
every civilized land.^ 



1 In early times twelve tribes in the north agreed to celebrate sacrifices together 
twice a year,— in the spring to Apollo at Delphi, and in the autumn to Ceres at An- 
thela, near Thermopylfe. Their deputies were called the Amphictyonic Council 
(council of the neighbors or co-religionists), and the meetings, from being at first 
purely religious, became great centers of political influence. The temple at Delphi 
belonged to all the states, and the Delphic Oracle attained celebritj'^ not only among 
the Greeks, but also among foreign nations. 

2 This was twenty-nine years before the era of Nabonassar (p. 46), and half a 
century before the Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Sargon (p. 84). 

3 Thus read the legends : (1) Jason, a prince of Thessaly, sailed with a band of 
adventurers in the good ship Argo. The Argonauts went through the Dardanelles, 
past tlie present site of Constantinople, to the eastern coast of the Euxine Sea. Jason 
there planted a colony, took away the famous Golden Fleece, carried oflf the beautiful 
princ(^s8 Medea, and returned to Thessalj' in triumph. (2) Jiercules was the son of 
Jupiter and Alcmena. Juno, Queen of Heaven, sent two serpents to strangle him 
in his cradle, but the precocious infant killed them both, and escaped unharmed. 
Afterward his half-brother, Eurystheus, imposed upon him twelve difficult under- 
tBikings, all of which he successfully accomplished. (3) Soon after the return of the 



116 



GREECE. 



Primitive Governments. — In legendary times, as we 
learn from tlie Iliad, each little city or district had its he- 
reditary king, supposed to be descended from the gods. He 




THE DEPAUTUUE OF ACHII.LES (FROM AN ANCIENT VASE). 

was advised by the Council of the Elders and the Assemhly, 
the latter being a mass meeting, where all the citizens gath- 



Argouautic expedition several of tlie Grecian waniors— Meleager, Theseus, and 
others— joined in an ^olian war, wliich the poets termed the " Hunt of the Calj'do 
nian Boar." ^neus, king of Calydon, father of Meleager, liaving neglected to pay 
homage to Diana, that goddess sent a wild boai', which was impervious to the spears 
of ordinary liuntsmen, to lay waste his country. All the princes of the age assembled 
to hunt him down, and he was at last killed by tlie spear of Meleager. (4) The story 
of the Siege of Troy is the subject of Homer's Iliad. Venus had promised Paris, sou 
of Priam, King of Troy, that if he would pronounce lier the most beautiful of the 
goddesses, he sliould have for wife tlie handsomest woman of his time, Helen, wife 
of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris granted the boon, and then going to Sparta 
carried off Helen to Troy. Menelaus, smarting under this wrong, appealed to the 

Grecian princes for help. They assembled 
under his brother Agamemnon, King of My- 
cenae. A hundred thousand men sailed away 
in eleven hundred and eighty-six ships across 
the Mge'im, and invested Troy. The siege 
lasted ten years. Hector, "of the beamy 
helm," son of Priam, was the bravest leader 
of the Trojans. Achilles, the first of Grecian 
warriors, slew him in single combat, and 
dragged his bodj' at his chariot- wheels in in- 
solent triumph around the walls of the city. 
But the " lion-hearted "Acliilles fell in turn, 
"for so the Fates liad decreed." Troy was finally taken by stratagem. The Greeks 
feigned to retire, leaving behind them as an offering to Minerva a great wooden horse. 
This was reported to be purposely of such vast bulk, in order to prevent the Trojans 
from taking it into the city, as that would be fatal to the Grecian cause. The deluded 




I'KOVV OF AN EAIU.V (ilU'-EK 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 117 

ered about the king and the elders to diseuss political ^ 
affairs. The power of the kings gradually diminished until 
most of the cities became republics, or commonwealths. 
In some cases the authority was held by a few families. If 
good, it was styled an aristocracy {aristos, best) ; but if bad, 
an oligarchy {oligos, few). In a democracy any citizen could 
hold office and vote in the assembly. At Sparta there were 
always two kings, although in time they lost most of then* 
power. 

The Dorian Migration was one of the first clearly 
defined events of Grecian history. After the Trojan war 
the ties which had temporarily held the princes together 
were loosed, and a general shifting of the tribes ensued. 
The Dorians — a brave, hardy race — descended from the 
mountains, and moved south in search of new homes.^ They 
conquered the Achgeans in the Peloponnesus, and occupied 
the chief cities, — Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. This was 
about the 11th century b. c. 

Grecian Colonies. — Hellas was greatly extended in con- 
sequence of these changes. A part of the Achaeans fled 
northward, dispossessing the lonians, many of whom emi- 
grated to Asia Minor, where they founded the Ionic colonies,^ 
among which were Ephesus (Acts xix. 1 ; xx. 15) and Mile'- 



iuhabitauts fell into the suare, and eagerly dragged the unwieldy monster within tlieir 
walls. That night a body of men concealed in tlie horse crept out, threw open the 
gates, and admitted the Grecians, who had quietly returned. From the terrible mas- 
sacre which ensued, ^ne'as, a famous Trojan chief, escaped with a few followers. 
His subsequent adventures form the theme of Virgil's -Ene'id. Homer's Odyssey tells 
tlie wanderings of the crafty Ulysses, king of Ithaca, on his journey home from Troy, 
and the trials of his faithful wife Penelope during his absence. 

1 The word "politics" is derived from the Greek word for city, and meant in its 
original form only the afifairs of the city. Tlie Hellenes, unlike most other Aryans 
(except the Italians), from the very first gatliered in cities. 

2 This event is known in Grecian history as "Tlie Return of the Heraclei'da;." 
The Dorians were induced by the descendants of Hercules to support their claim to 
the throne of Argos, whence their ancestor had been driven by the family of Pelops. 

3 Some authorities make the Ionic colonies the parents of Greece. 



118 GREECE. 

tus. SimDarly, the ^olians had already founded the JSolic 
colonies. Finally the Dorians were tempted to cross the sea 
and estabhsh the Boric colonies, chief of which was Rhodes 
(map, p. 11). In subsequent times of strife many Greek 
citizens grew discontented, and left their homes to try their 
fortune in new lands. The colonial cities also soon became 
strong enough to plant new settlements. Every opportunity 
to extend their commerce or political influence was eagerly 
seized by these energetic explorers. In the palmy days of 
Greece, the Euxine and the Propontis (Sea of Marmora) 
were fringed with Hellenic towns. The Ionian cities, at the 
time of the Persian conquest (p. 125), " extended ninety miles 
along the coast in an almost uninterrupted line of magnificent 
quays, warehouses, and dwellings." On the African shore 
was the rich Gyrene, the capital of a prosperous state. Sicily, 
with her beautiful city of Syracuse, was Like a Grecian island. 
Southern Italy was long called Magna Grsecia (Great Greece). 
The Phoenicians, the seamen and traders of these times, 
almost lost the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. On 
the western coast the Greeks possessed the flourishing colony 
of Massiha (Marseilles), and, had it not been for the rising 
power of Carthage, would have secured nearly the entire 
shore, and transformed the Mediterranean into a " Grecian 
lake." 

Wherever the Greek went, he remained a Greek. He 
carried with him into barbarian lands the Hellenic language, 
manners, and civihzation. In the colonies the natives learned 
the Grecian tongue, and took on the Grecian mode of thought 
and worship. Moreover, the transplanted Greek matured 
faster than the home growth. So it happened that in the 
magnificent cities which grew up in Asia Minor, philosophy, 
letters, the arts and sciences, bloomed even sooner than in 
Greece itself. 




HELLAS or GREECE. 

IN THE HEROIC AGE 

yColians I I lonians 

Achaeansl I Dorians 



'^11^%*^: 




T'asnarium P '- 1*^ 



HELLAS 01 (fKEECE. 

AFTER THE DORIC MIGRATION. 

I | /Eolians i I lonians 

I I Ar.hanans QBI DorianS 

DWELLS, DEL. 






RHOOES 
CABPATH06 I. 




£»<nU i i(r«lA«r.,£«iir'i.A'.r. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 119 

Sparta and Athens. — The Dorians and the lonians 
came to be the leading races in Greece. Their diverse 
characteristics had a great influence on its history. The 
Dorians were rougli and phxin in their habits, sticklers for 
the old customs, friends of an aristocracy, and bitter ene- 
mies of trade and the fine arts. The lonians, on the other 
hand, were refined in their tastes, fond of change, demo- 
cratic, commercial, and passionate lovers of music, painting, 
and sculpture. The rival cities, Sparta and Athens, repre- 
sented these opposing traits. Their deep-rooted hatred was 
the cause of numerous wars which convulsed the country; 
for in the sequel we shall find that the Grecians spent 
their best blood in fighting among themselves, and that 
Grecian history is mostly occupied with the doings of these 
two cities. 

SPARTA. 

Early History. — One of the Dorian bands occupied 
Lacedaemon, called also Sparta from its grain-fields [spartej 
sown land). The former owners (termed ^6'r/cB'H, dwellers- 
around) were allowed to keep the poorest of the lands, and 
to be tradesmen and mechanics. But they could neither 
have voice in the government nor intermarry with their 
Dorian conquerors, who now came to be called Spartans. 
The latter took the best farms, and compelled theii* slaves 
(helots) to work them. The helots were captives or rebels, 
and were at first few, but in the succeeding wars rapidly 
increased. The Spartans (only nine thousand strong in the 
time of Lycurgus), planted thus in the midst of a hostile 
population, were forced to live like soldiers on guard. 

In the rest of the Peloponnesus the Dorians betook 
themselves to peaceful pursuits, and mingled with the nar 

BGH— 8 



120 GREECE. • [850 b. c. 

tives. But in Sparta there was no relaxation, no blend- 
ing. The Dorians there kept on their cold, cruel way. They 
were constantly quarreling among themselves, and so little 
gain did they make, that two centuries and a half passed and 
the Ach^ans were still fortified only little over two miles 
away from Sparta. 

Lycurgus,^ according to tradition, was a statesman of 
royal birth who crystaUized into a constitution all the pecu- 
Uarities of the Spartan character. His whole aim was to 
make the Spartans a race of soldiers. Trade and travel 
were prohibited. No money was allowed except cumbrous 
iron coins, which no foreigner would take. Most property, 
as slaves, horses, dogs, etc., was held in common. Boys 
were removed from home at the age of seven, and educated 
by state officers. The men ate at public tables, slept in bar- 
racks, and only occasionally visited their homes. Private 
hfe was given up for the good of the state, and devoted to 
military drill. 

The two kings were retained ; but their power was limited 
by a senate of twenty-eight men over sixty years old, and an 
assembly of all the citizens. The five eplwrs (overseers) 
chosen annually by the assembly were the real rulers. No 
popular discussion was allowed, nor could a private citizen 
speak in the assembly without special leave from a magis- 
trate. Thus the government became in fact an ohgarchy 
under the guise of a monarchy. The people having prom- 
ised to live under this constitution until he should return, 
Lycurgus left Sparta, never to return. 

The Supremacy of Sparta dates from this time. " A 
mere garrison in a hostile country, she became the mistress 

1 Lycurgus, like many other legendary lieroes, has been banished by modern 
critics into the region of myth. There seems, however, good evidence t4at he existed 
about tlie 9th century b. c. Just what his laws included, and how far they were his 
own creations, is uncertain. 



743-668 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



121 



of Laconia." The conquest of Messenia, in two lon^, bloody 
wars, made her dominant in tlie Peloi)()nnesu8. This was 
preceded and followed by several minor wars, all tending 
to increase her territory and establish her authority over her 
neighbors. At the beginning of the 5th century b. c. the 
Spartans had already repeatedly carried their arms across 
the isthmus into Attica, and were ready to assert their posi- 
tion as the leaders in Grecian affairs, when, at this juncture, 
all Greece was threatened by the Persian forces (p. 124). 



ATHENS 



Early History. — Athens, like the other Grecian cities, 
was governed for a time by kings. Cecrops^ the iii*st ruler, 
according to the legends, taught the 
people of Attica navigation, marriage, 
and the culture of the olive. Codrus, 
the last monarch, fell (1050 B. c.) while 
resisting the Dorians. After his death 
the nobles selected one of the royal 
family as arclion, or chief. At first the 
archon ruled for life; afterward the 
term was shortened to ten years, and 
finally to one, the nobles choosing nine 
archons from their ow^n number. Thus 
Athens became an aristocratic republic. 

Draco's Code (621 b.c.).— But demo- 
cratic spirit was rife. The people com- 
plained that they got no justice from 
the nobles, and the demand for written laws became so ur- 
gent that Draco was directed to prepare a code. His laws 
were so merciless that they were said to have been written 




COIN OK ATHENS. 



122 



GREECE. 



[624 B. c. 




SOLON'S TABLETS. 



in blood, every offense being punished with death. To avoid 
the popular indignation, Draco fled, and his name is to this 
day synonymous with cruelty. His code shows (1) the bar- 
barity of the age, and its lack of sympathy with the poor ; 
(2) the growing spirit of democracy. 

Solon's Constitution^ (594 b. c). — Party strife was 
now prevalent. The state being threatened with anarchy, 

Solon was appointed 
^d | ^.-;/.^a ^vp1 ■ '■ ■■:^:1L® to draft a new constitu- 

tion. He repealed the 
harsh edicts of Draco 5 
relieved debtors 5 ^ re- 
deemed many slaves; 
forbade parents to sell 
or pawn their children ; 
ordered every father to teach his sons a trade ; and required 
sons to support their aged father if he had educated them. 
He aimed to weaken the nobles and strengthen the people. 
He therefore gave every free-born native of Attica a vote in 
the assembly, where laws were enacted, archons elected, and 
the conduct of officers reviewed. The business presented in 
this assembly was prepared by a senate of four hundred, 
selected annually by lot. 

Property, instead of birth, now gave rank. The people 
were divided into four classes, according to their income. 
Only the three richest classes could hold office, but they 
had to pay the taxes and to equip themselves as soldiers. 
The wealthiest could serve as archons ; those who had thus 
served were eligible to the Court of Areopagus.^ This court 

1 This famous Athenian lawgiver, descended from the ancient kings, was forced 
by poverty to earn a liveliliood. He gained a fortune by commerce, retired from busi- 
ness, and then traveled to the East in search of knowledge. He was reckoned one of 
the Seven Wise Men of Greece (Appendix). 

2 In that age a debtor might be sold into slavery (Nehemiah v. 3, 5 ; 2 Kings iv. 1). 

3 So called because it met on the hill known by that name (Acts xvii. 19). 



560 b. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 123 

repealed laws hurtful to the state, looked after public morals, 
and rebuked any person who was not properly bringing up 
his children, or who otherwise lived unworthy an Athenian. 

Tyrants. ^ — Athens prospered under Solon's wise man- 
agement. The people got their rights. The mortgage-pil 
lars^ disappeared. But moderate measures pleased neither 
extreme of society. Class factions strove for power. One 
day Pisis'tratuSy a noble aspiring to office, rushed, besmeared 
with blood, into the market place, and, pointing to his self- 
inflicted wounds, asked for a guard, pretending that the 
other nobles had attacked him because he was the people's 
friend.^ Solon detected the sham, but the people granted 
the request. Pisistratus soon seized the Acropohs (p. 194), 
and became the first t}Tant of Athens. His use of his 
craftily secured place was beneficent. He estabhshed Solon's 
laws, erected beautiful public buildings, encouraged art, 
and founded the fii'st library. 

The Pisistrat'idce, Hippias and Hipparchus, trod in their 
fathei-'s steps. But the assassination of Hipparchus im- 
bittered his brother, so that he became moody and cruel. 
His enemies, led by the Alcmseon'id^,* bribed the oracle 

1 The Greeks applied this name iit first to a person who became king in a city 
where the law did not authorize one. Afterward the Tyrants became cruel, and the 
word took on the meaning which we now give it. 

2 A mortgaged farm was known by a stone pillar marked with amount of loan 
and name of lender. 

3 Solon, though under obligations to his kinsman, Pisistratus, resisted his am- 
bitions. He now exclaimed : " You are but a bad imitation of Ulysses. He wounded 
liimself to delude his enemies, you to deceive your countrymen." 

4 At the time Draco's laws aroused so much feeling, a noble named Cylon at- 
tempted to make himself tyrant. He seized tlie Acropolis, but was defeated; and 
his followers, half dead with hunger, were forced to take refuge at the altars of the 
gods. The archon Megacles induced them to surrender on the promise of tlieir lives ; 
but they had scarcely left the altars, when his soldiers cut them down. Soon after- 
ward a plague broke out, and tlie Athenians, believing tliat a judgment had fallen 
on their city, forced the Alcma'onida' (tlio clan of Mejracles) into exile. To atone for 
their impiety, the Alcm;eonidie, who were rich, relmilt tlie burned temple at Delphi. 
The contract called for common stone, but they faced the building with fine marble, 
and thus gained the favor of the Delphic oracle. 



124 GREECE. [510 B.C. 

at Delphi, so that when the Lacedaemonians consulted the 
priestess, they received the reply, "Athens must be freed." 
The Spartans accordingly invaded Attica and drove away 
the tyrant (510 b. c). Hippias went over to the Persian 
court, and was henceforth the declared enemy of his native 
city. We shall hear from him again. 

Democracy Established. — Aristocratic Sparta had 
only paved the way for a republic. Solon's work now bore 
fruit. Cleis'thenes, an Athenian noble, head of the Alcmte- 
onidao but now candidate of the people's party, became ar- 
chon. All freemen of Attica were admitted to citizenship. 
To break up the four old tribes, and prevent the nobles from 
forming parties among the people of their clans, or accord- 
ing to local interests, he divided the country into districts, 
and organized ten new tribes by uniting non-adjacent dis- 
tricts; each tribe sent fifty representatives to the senate, 
and also chose a strategus, or general, the ten generals to 
command the army in daily turn. To protect the rising 
democracy from demagogues, he instituted ostracism,^ or 
banishment by popular vote (p. 129). 

The triumph of democracy was complete. Four times a 
month all Athens met to deliberate and decide upon ques- 
tions affecting the public weal. '^ The Athenians then," says 
Herodotus, " grew mighty, and it became plain that liberty 
is a brave thing." 

It was now near the beginning of the 5th century B. c. 
Both Sparta and Athens had risen to power, when all Greece 
was threatened by a new foe. The young civilization of the 
West was for the first time called to meet the old ci\'iliza- 
tion of the East. In the presence of a common danger, the 
warring states united. The next twenty years were stirring 
ones in the annals of freedom. 

» strangely enough, Cleiathenes was the first man ostracized. 



500 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



125 



THE PERSIAN WARS. 

Cause. — The Persian empire now reached tlie borders of 
Thessaly. The Grecian colonies in Asia Minor had fallen 
into the hands of Cyrus; and the conquering armies of 
Darius were already threatening the freedom of Greece 
itself, when an act of Athens hastened the struggle. The 



GREECE, 

TIME OF THE PERSIAN WARS 



^i^'.YiyE 




•Eoli 

I -I Iimianx 

r-~l T>nrin.nJi 



Ionian cities having tried to throw off the Persian yoke, the 
mother city sent them aid.i The Great King subdued the 
Ionic revolt, and then turned to punish the haughty f oreign- 



1 During the brief campaign of the Atlienians in Asia Minor, Sardis, the capital 
of Lydia, was accidentally burned. When Darius received this news, he took a bow 
and shot an arrow to the sky, with a prayer to Ahura Mazda (p. 93) for help ; and that 
he might not forget the insult, he ordered that at dinner each day a servant should 
call out thrice, "Master, remember the Athenians." 



126 



GREECE. 



[49S ^. C, 



ers who had dared to meddle in the affairs of his empire, 
and also to force the Athenians to receive back Hippias 
(p. 124) as their tyrant. 

The First Expedition (493 b. c.) against Greece was 
sent out under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius. The 
land troops were defeated in TJirace, and the fleet was shat- 
tered while rounding Mount Athos. Mardonius returned 
without having set foot into the region he went to conquer. 
The Second Expedition. — Darius, full of fury, be- 
gan at once raising a new army. Meanwhile heralds were 
dispatched to demand the surrender of the Grecian cities. 
Many sent back earth and water, the oriental symbols of 
submission; Sparta and Athens refused, Sparta throwing 
the envoys into a deep well, and bidding them find there 
the earth and water they demanded. 

Battle of Marathon (490 b. c). — The Persian fleet of 
six hundred triremes (p. 192) safely crossed the Mgenn, and 
landed an army of over a hundred thousand on the field 

of Marathon, twenty-two 
miles from Athens. Mil- 
tiades (to whom the other 
strategi had been led by 
Aristides to surrender 
their command) went out 
to meet them with but 
ten thousand soldiers. 
The usual prayers and 
sacrifices were offered. 




^o'ad to 



PLAIN OF MARATHON 



but it was late in the day before the auspices became favor- 
able to an attack. Finding that the Persians had placed their 
best troops at the center, Miltiades put opposite them a weak 
line of men, and stationed heavy files of his choicest soldiers 
on the wings. Giving the enemy no time to hurl theii' jave- 



490 B. c] 



THE rOTilTinATi HISTORY 



127 




r*«P%8|iis»«l*e**. 



M\:, 



VIEW UK TllK I'LAINS OK MAUATHON. 



lins, he iinniediately charged 
at full speed, and came at once 
to a hand-to-hand fight. The 
powerful wings swept every- 
thing before them, and then, 
wheeling, they fell upon both 

flanks of the victorious Persian center. In a few moments 
the Asiatic host were \Wldly fleeing to their ships.^ 




1 The Spartans had promiaoa aid, but from religious scruples the troops were 
unwilling to march until the full nioou, and so did not arrive till after the battle. A 
thousand men from Plat.ua— all the little city had-stood by the side of the Athenians 
on that memorable day. When the victory was gained, Eucles, the swiftest runner 
in Greece, ran witli the tidings, and, reaching Athens, had breath only to tell tlie 
news, when he fell dead in the street. Seven of the Persian vessels were captured by 
the pursuing Greeks. The brother of yEschylus, the poet, is said to have caught a 
trireme by the stern, and to have held it until his hand was hacked off by the enemy. 
Hardly had the Persians and Athenians separated from the last conflict on the beach, 
when the attention of both was arrested r»y a flash of light on the summit of Mount 
Pentelicus. It was the reflection of the setting sun on the glittering surface of an 
uplifted shield. Miltiades at once saw in this a signal from the traitors in Athens, 
inviting the fleet to join them before he returned. Not a moment was to be lost, and 
lie ordered an instant marcli to the cit}'. When the Persian ships arrived, they found 
the heroes of Marathon drawn ujj on the beach, awaiting them. 



128 GREECE. [490 B.C. 



The Effect ^ of this victory was to render the reputation 
of Athens for valor and patriotism equal, if not superior, to 
that of Sparta. The Persian invasion had made a union of 
the Hellenic states possible, and Marathon decided that 
Athens should be its leader. 

Greece was saved, and her deliverer, Miltiades, was for a 
time the favorite hero ; but a disgraceful expedition to the 
Isle of Paros cost him his popularity, and soon after his 
return he died. 

Themistocles and Aristides, generals associated with 
Miltiades at Marathon, now came to be the leading men in 
Athens. The former was an able but often uii scrupulous 
statesman ; the latter, a just man and an incorruptible patriot. 
Themistocles foresaw that the Persians would make another 
attempt to subdue Greece ; and that Athens, with its excellent 
harbor and commercial facilities, could be far stronger on sea 



1 " So ended wliat may truly be called the birthday of Athenian erreatness. It 
stood alone in their annals. Other glories were won in alter times, but none ap- 
proached the glory of Marathon. It was not merely the ensuing generation that felt 
the effects of that woudeiful deliverance. It was not merely Themistocles whom 
the marble trophy of Miltiades would not suffer to sleep. It was not merely ^schy- 
lus, who, when his end drew near, passed over all his later achievements in war and 
peace, at Salamls, and in the Dionysiac theater, and recorded in his epitaph only the 
one deed of his earl.v days,— that he had repulsed the 'long-haired Medes at Marathon.' 
It was not merely the combatants in the battle who told of supernatural assistance 
in the shape of the hero Theseus, or of the mysterious peasant, wielding a gigantic 
plowshare. Everywhere in the monuments and the customs of their country, and 
for centuries afterward, all Athenian citizens were reminded of that great day, and 
of that alone. The frescoes of a painted portico— the only one of the kind in, 
Athens— exhibited in lively colors the scene of the battle. The rock of the Acropolis 
was crowned on the eastern extremity by a temple of Wingless Victoiy, now sup- 
posed to have taken up her abode forever in the city ; and in its northern precipice, 
the cave, which up to this time had remained untenanted, was consecrated to Pan, 
in commemoration of the mj'sterious voice which rang through the Arcadian moun- 
tains to cheer the forlorn messenger on his empty-handed return from Sparta. The 
one hundred and ninety-two Athenians who had fallen on the field received the 
honor— tinique in Athenian historj'- of burial on the scene of their death (the 
tumulus raised over their bodies by Aristides still remains to mark the spot), their 
names were invoked with hymns and sacrifices down to the latest times of Grecian 
freedom; and long after that freedom had been extinguished, even in the reign of 
Trajan and the Antonines, the anniversary of Marathon was still celebrated, ana 
the battle-field was believed to be haunted night after night by the snorting of 
unearthly chargers and the clash of invisible combatants." 



482 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 129 

than on land. He therefore urged the building of a fleet. 
Ai-istides, fond of the old ways, condemned this measure. 
Themistocles, dreading the opposition, secured the ostra- 
cism ' of his rival. 

Third Expedition. — Darius died before he could make 
a new attempt to punisli Athens. But his son Xerxes assem- 
bled over a million soldiers, whom he led in person across 
the Hellespont and along the coast of Thrace and Macedonia. 
A fleet of twelve hundred war-ships and three thousand 
transports kept within easy reach from the shore.^ 

Battle of Thermopylae (480 b. c.).— At the Pass of 
Thermopylae his march was checked by seven thousand 
Greeks under Leonidas, a Spartan. Xerxes sent a messen- 
ger to demand their arms. He received the laconic reply, 
^' Come and take them." For two days the Greeks repulsed 
every attack, and the terrified Persians had to be driven to 
the assault with whips. On the third day, a traitor having 
pointed out to Xerxes a mountain-path, he sent the Immor- 
tals over it, to the rear of the Grecian post. Spartan law 
bade a soldier to die rather than yield. So Leonidas, learn- 
ing of the peril, sent away his allies, retaining only three 
hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians, who wished 
to share in the glory of the day. The little band prepared 

1 For the origin of ostracism see p. 124. Into an urn placed in the assembly any 
citizen could drop a shell (ostrakon) hearing the name of the person he wished exiled. 
Six thousand votes against a man banished him for ten years. It is said that on this 
occasion a countryman coming to Aristides, wliom he did not know, asked him to 
wi-ite Aristides on his shell. " Why, what wrong has he done?" inquired the patriot. 
" None at all," was the reply, " only I am tired of hearing him called the Just." Six 
years later Aristides was recalled. 

2 Two magnificent bridges of boats which he built across the Hellespont having 
been injuied in a storm, the story is that Xerxes ordered the sea to be beaten with 
whips, and fetters to be thrown into it to show that he was its master. The vast 
army was seven days in crossing. The king sat on a throne of -rhite marble, in- 
specting the army as it passed. It consisted of forty-six different nations, each 
armed and dre.s.scd after its own manner, while' ships manned by Plu^nicians covered 
the sea. Xerxes is said to have burst into tears at the thought tliat in a few years 
not one of all that immense throng would be alive. 



130 



GREECE. 



[480 B. C. 



for battle, — the Spartans combing their long hair, according 
to custom, — and then, scorning to await the attack, dashed 



VrCIT^ITY 




OO; /^ ir» I C v: ^^^^■"^'>iV 

ON; PARKASSU, ' <^V^ I :» . './ -^ „^^ 



PASS OF THERMOPYL/E. 



down the defile to meet the on-coming enemy. All per- 
ished, fighting to the last.i 



1 "Xerxes could not believe Demaratiis, wlio assured him tliat the Spartans at 
least were come to dispute the Pass with him, and that it was their custom to trim 
their hair on the eve of a combat. Four days passed before he could be convinced 
that his army must do more than show itself to clear a way for him. On the fifth day 
he ordered a body of Median and Cissian troops to fall upon the rash and insolent 
enemy, and to lead them captive into his presence. He was seated on a lofty throne 
from which he could survey the narrow entrance of the Pass, which, in obedience to 
his commands, his warriors endeavored to force. But they fought on ground where 
their numbers were of no avail, save to increase their confusion, when their attack 
was repulsed : their short spears could not reach their foe ; the foremost fell, the 
hinder advancing over their bodies to the charge ; their repeated onsets broke upon 
the Greeks idly, as waves iipon a rock. At lengtli, as the day wore on, the Medians 
and Cissians, spent with their efforts and greatly tliinned in tlieir ranks, were recalled 
from the contest, which the king now thought worthy of the superior prowess of his 
own guards, the ten thousand Immortals. They were led up as to a certain and easy 
victory ; the Greeks stood their ground as before ; or, if they ever gave way and turned 
their backs, it was only to face suddenly about, and deal tenfold destruction on their 
pursuers. Thrice during these fruitless assaults the king was seen to start up from 
his throne in a transport of fear or rage. The combat lasted the whole day ; the 
slaughter of the barbarians was great ; on the side of the Greeks a few Spartan lives 
were lost; as to the rest, nothing is said. The next day the attack was renewed 
with no better success ; the bauds of the several cities that made up the Grecian 
army, except the Phociaus, who were employed in defending the mountain-path by 
which the defile was finally turned, relieved each other at the post of honor ; all stood 
equally firm, and repelled the charge not less vigorously than before. The confidence 
of Xerxes was changed into despondence and perplexity." 



480 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



131 



The Sacrifice of Leonidas became the inspiration of all 
Greece, and has been the admiration of the lovers of free- 
dom in every age. The names of the three hundred were 




LEOMDAS AT THE I'ASii OF Til KUMCl'VLiK. 



familiar to their countrymen, and, six hundred years after, 
a traveler spoke of seeing them inscribed on a pillar at 
Sparta. Upon the mound where the last stand was made 



132 GREECE. [480 B.C. 

a marble lion was erected to Leonidas, and a piUar to the 

three liundred bore this inscription, wiitten by Simonides 

(p. 164) :— 

" Go, stranger, and to Laceda'mon (ell 
Tliat here, obeying her behests, we fell." 

Battle of Sal'amis. — At first, however, the loss at Ther- 
mopylae seemed in vain, and the Asiatic deluge poured south 
over the plains of Greece. Warned by the oracle that the 
safety of Athens lay in her " wooden walls," the inhabitants 
deserted the city, which Xerxes then burned. The ocean, 
however, seemed to "fight for Greece.-' In a storm the 
Persian fleet lost two liundred ships. But it was still so 
much superior, that the Greeks were fearful, and as usual 
quarreling,^ when Themistocles determined to bring on the 
battle, and accordingly sent a spy to the enemy to say that 
his countrymen would escape if they were not attacked 
immediately. Thereupon the Persians blockaded the Hel- 
lenic fleet in the harbor of Salamis. Animated by the spirit 
of Thermopylae, the Grecians silenced their disputes and 
rushed to the fray. They quickly defeated the Phoenician 
ships in the van, and then the very nmltitude of the vessels 
caused the ruin of the Persian fleet : for while some were 

1 "All the Thessaliaua, Locrians, and Bneotians, except the cities of Thespiae 
and Plataia, sent earth and water to the I'ersian king at the first call to submit, 
althongh tliese tokens of subjection were attended by the curses of the rest of the 
Greeks, and the vow tliat a tithe of their estates should be devoted to the city of 
Delphi. Yet of the Greeks who did not favor I'ersia, some were willing to assist only 
on condition of being appointed to conduct and command the whole ; others, if their 
country could be the lirst to be protected; others sent a squadron, which was ordered 
to wait till it was certain which side would gain the victory ; and others pretended 
they were held back by the declarations of an oracle." An oft-told story, given in con- 
nection witli this engagement, illustrates the jealousj' of the Grecian generals. Thej^ 
were met to decide upon the prize tor skill and wisdom displayed in the contest. 
When the votes were collected, it appeared that each commander had placed his own 
name first, and that of Themistocles second. While the Grecian leaders at Salamia 
were deliberating over the propriety of retreat, and Themistocles alone held firm, a 
knock was heard at the door, and Themistocles was called out to speak with a 
stranger. It was the banished Aristides. " Themistocles," said he, "let us be rivals 
still, but let our strife be which best may serve our country." Ho had crossed from 
^gina in an open boat to inform his countrymen thJit they were snrroiinileci by the 
enemy. 



480 b. C] THK POLITICAL HISTORY. 133 

trying to escape, and some to come to tlic front, the Greeks, 
amid the confusion plying every weapon, sunk two hundred 
vessels, and put the rest to fliglit. 

Xerxes, seated on a lofty throne erected on the beach, 
watched the contest. Terrified by the destruction of his 
fleet, he fled into Asia, leaving three hundred and fifty thou 
sand picked troops luider Mardonius to continue the war. 

Battle of Ilimera. — While the hosts of Xerxes were pour- 
ing into Hellas on the northeast, she was assailed on the 
southwest by another formidable foe. An immense fleet, 
three thousand ships-of-war, saihng from Carthage to Sicily, 
landed an army under Hamilcar,^ who laid siege to Himera. 
Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, marched to the relief of Himera, 
and on the very day of Salamis utterly routed the Phoenician 
forces. The tyranny of the commercial oligarchy of Carthage 
might have been as fatal to the liberties of Europe as the 
despotism of Persia. 

Battle of Flatcea (479 b. c). — Mardonius wintered in 
Thessaly, and the next summer invaded Attica. The half- 
rebuilt houses of Athens were again leveled to the gi-ound. 
Finally the allies, over one hundred thousand strong, 
took the field under Pausanias, the Spartan. After the two 
armies had faced each other for ten days, w^ant of water 
compelled Pausanias to move his camp. While en routej 
Mardonius attacked his scattered forces. The omens were 
unfavorable, and the Grecian leader dare not give the signal 
to engage. The Spartans protected themselves with their 
shields as best they could against the shoW' er of aiTows. 
Many Greeks were smitten, and fell, lamenting, not that they 
must fall, but that they could not strike a blow for their 
country. In his distress, Pausanias Ufted up his streaming 
eyes toward the temple of Hera, beseeching the goddess, that, 

1 This was an ancestor of the Haiuilcar of Punic fame (p. 230). 



134 GREECE. [479 b. a 

if the Fates forbade the Greeks to conquer, they might die 
like men. Suddenly the sacrifices became auspicious. The 
Spartans, charging in compact rank, shield touching shield, 
with their long spears swept all before them. The Athenians, 
coming up, stormed the intrenched camp. Scarcely forty 
thousand Persians escaped. The booty was immense. 
Wagons were piled up with vessels of gold and silver, jewels^ 
and articles of luxury. One tenth of all the plunder was 
dedicated to the gods. The prize of valor was adjudged to 
the Plataeans, and they were charged to preserve the graves 
of the slain, Pausanias promising with a solemn oath that 
the battle-field should be sacred forever. 

That same day the Grecian fleet, having crossed the 
^gean, destroyed the Persian fleet at Mycale in Asia Minor. 

The Effect of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Platsea, 
and Mycale was to give the death-blow to Persian rule in 
Europe. Grecian valor had saved a continent from eastern 
slavery and barbarism . More than that, the Persian wars gave 
rise to the real Hellenic civilization, and Marathon and Sala- 
mis may be looked upon as the birthplaces of Grecian glory. 

Athenian Supremacy. — Greece was now, to para- 
phrase the language of Diodorus, at the head of the world, 
Athens at the head of Greece, and Themistocles at the head 
of Athens. The city of Athens was quickly rebuilt. During 
the recent war the Spartan soldiers had taken the lead, but 
Pausanias afterward proved a traitor, and, as Athens was so 
strong in ships, she became the acknowledged leader of all 
the Grecian states. A league, called the Confederation of 
Delos an B. c), was formed to keep the Persians out of the 
Mgesm. The different cities annually contributed to Athens 
a certain number of ships, or a fixed sum of money for the 
support of the navy. The ambition of Themistocles was to 
form a grand maritime empire, but, his share in the treason 



478 B.C.] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY 



13D 



of Paiisanias having been discovered, he was ostracized. 
Aristides, seeing the drift of affairs, had ch^inged his views, 
and was ah'eady the popuhir commander of the fleet. 







T' VICINITYOF • 

ATHENS 
SALAMIS 



Though the head of the party of the nobles, he secured a 
law abolishing the property qualification, and allowing any 
person to hold office. i 



AGE OF PERICLES. 

(479-429 B. c.) 

The Leading Men at Athens, after the death of Aris- 
tides, were Pericles and Cimon. The heroes of the Persian 
invasions had passed from the stage, and new actor^ now 
appeared. 

1 Tlie thonjriitfnl student of history cannot btit pause here to consider the fate 
of these three great contonipoi-ary men,— Paiisanias, Thoniistocles, and Aristides. 
Pausanias fled to tlio temple of Minerva. The Spartans, not darinc: to violate this 
sauctuaiy, blocked the door (tlie traitor's motlier laying the llrst stone), tore off the 
roof, guarded everj' avenue, and left tlie wretch to die of cold and hungei'. Themis- 
tocles vp^as welcomed by Artaxerxes, then King of Persia, and assigned the revenue 
of three cities. He lived like a prince, but finally ended his pitiable existence, it is 
said, with poison. .Aristides the Just went down to his grave full of lumors. The 
treasurer of the league, he liad yet been so hoiKJst that traditiou says he did not leave 
enough mouej' to meet his funeral expenses. The grateful republic paid these rites, 
finished the education of his sou, and portioned his daughters. 



136 GREECE. [466 b. C. 

Cimon ^ renewed the glory of his father Miltiades, the 
victor at Marathon. He pushed on the war in Asia Minor 
against Persia with great vigor^ finally routing her land and 
sea forces in the decisive battle of the Enrymedon (466 b. c). 
As the head of the nobles, he was natui'ally friendly to aris- 
tocratic Sparta. The Helots and Messenians, taking advan- 
tage of an earthquake which nearly destroyed that city, 
revolted, and a ten-years' struggle (known in history as 
the Third Messenian War) ensued. The haughty Spartans 
were driven to ask aid from Athens. By the influence of 
Cimon, this was granted. But the Spartans became fearful 
of their allies, and sent the army home. AU Athens rose in 
indignation, and Cimon was ostracized (461 B. c.) for expos- 
ing his city to such insult. 

Pericles, 2 who was the leader of the democracy, now 

1 Ciraou was the richest man in Athens. He kept open table for the public. 
A body of servants laden witli cloaks followed him throngh the streets, and gave a 
garment to any needj' person whom iie met. His pleasure-garden was free for all to 
enter and pluck fruit or flowers. He planted oriental plane-trees in the market place ; 
bequeathed to Athens the groves, afterward the Academy of Plato, with its beautiful 
fountains; built marble colonnades where the people were wont to promenade; and 
gave magnificent dramatic entertainments at his private exi^ense. 

2 " To all students of Grecian literature, Pericles must always appear as tlie central 
figure of Grecian history. His form, manner, and outward appearance are well 
known. We can imagine that stern and almost forbidding aspect which repelled 
rather than invited intimacy; the majestic stature; the long head,— long to dispro- 
portion,— already, before his fiftieth year, silvered over with the marks of age; the 
sweet voice and rapid enunciation— recalling, thougli by an unwelcome association, 
the likeness of his ancestor Pisistratus. We knew the stately reserve which reigned 
through his whole life and manners. Those grave features were never seen to relax 
into laughter, twice only in his long career to melt into tears. For the whole forty 
years of his administration he never accepted an invitation to dinner but once, and 
that to his nephew's wedding, and then staid only till the libation [p. 199]. That 
princely courtesy could never be disturbed by the bitterest persecution of aristocratic 
enmity or popular irritation. To the man who had followed him all the way from the 
assembly to his own house, loading him with the abusive epithets with which, as 
we know from Aristophanes, the Athenian vocabulary was so richly stored, he paid 
no other heed than, on arriving at his own door, to turn to his torch-bearer with an 
order to light his revilerhome. In public it was the same. Amidst the passionate 
gesticulations of Athenian oratory, amidst the tempest of an Athenian mob, his self- 
possession was never lost, his dress was never disordered, his language was ever 
studied and measured. Every speech that he delivered he wrote down previously. 
1' ""ery time that he spoke he offered up a prayer to Heaven that no word might escape 
hiH Jips which he should wish unsaid. But when he did apeak the effect was almost 



461 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 137 

had everything his own way. A mere private citizen, living 
plainly and unostentatiously, this great-hearted man, by his 
eloquence, genius, adroitness, and wisdom, shaped the policy 
of the state. Opposing foreign conquest, he sought home 
development. He was bent on keeping Athens all-powerful 
in Greece, and on making the people all-powerful in Athens. 
He had perfect confidence in a government by the people, 
if they were only properly educated. There were then no 
common schools or daily papers, and he was forced to use 
what the times supplied. He paid for all service in the 
army, on juries, at religious festivals and civil assemblies, 
so that the poorest man could take part in public affairs. 
He had the grand di-amas of ^schylus, Euripides, and 
Sophocles performed free before the multitude. He erected 
magnificent public buildings, and adorned them with the 
noblest historical paintings. He enriched the temples of the 
gods with beautiful architecture and the exquisite sculptures 
of Phidias. He encom-aged poets, artists, philosophers, and 
orators to do their best work. Under his fostering care, the 
Age of Pericles became the finest blossom and fruitage of 
Hellenic civilization. 

Athens Ornamented and Fortified. — Matchless 
colonnades and temples were now erected, which are yet the 
wonder of the world. The Acropolis was so enriched with 

awful. The ' fierce deinoci acy ' was struck down before it. It could be compared to 
nothing short of the thunders and lightnings of that Olympian Jove whom in majesty 
and dignity he resembled. It left the inesistible impression that he was always in 
the riglit. ' He not oulj' throws me in tlie wrestle,' said one of his rivals, ' but when 
I have thrown him, he will make the people think that it is I and not he who has 
fallen.' What Themistocles, what Aristides, what Cimon, said, has perished from 
memory; but tlie condensed and vivid rhetorical images of Pericles were handed 
down from age to age as specimens of tliat eloquence which had lield Athens and 
Greece in awe. 'The lowering of the storm of war' from Peloponnesus— 'tlie spring 
taken out of the year' in the loss of the flower of Athenian jouths— the comparison 
of Greece to * a chariot drawn by two horses '—of ^T^gina to ' the eyesore of the 
Piraeus'— of Athens to 'the school of Greece '-were traditionary phrases wliich later 
writers preserved, and which Thucydides either introduced or imitated in the 
•Funeral Oration' which he has put in his mouth." 



138 



GREECE. 



[455 B. c. 



magnificent structures that it was called '^the city of the 
gods." The Long Walls were built two hundi-ed yards 
apart, and extended over four miles from Athens to Piraeus 
— ^its harbor. Thus the capital was connected with the sea, 
and, while the Athenians held the command of the ocean, 
theu" ships could bring them supplies, even when the city 
should be suiTounded by an enemy on land. 




A SCENE IN ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES. 

The Wonderful Spirit and enterprise of the Athenians 
are shown from the fact that, while they were thus erecting 
great public works at home, they were during a single year 
(458 B. c.) waging war in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, off 



450 B. c] 



T1[E POLITKJAli UlSToliV. 



13d 



^giiia, aiul on tlie coast of Peloponnesus. Tlie Corinthians, 
knowing that the Athenian troo})s were occnpied so far from 
home, invaded Megara, tlien in aUiance with Athens, Init 
the " boys and okl men " of Atliens salUed out and routed 
tliem. So completely was the tide turned, that (450 b. c.) 
Artaxerxes T. made a treaty with Athens, agreeing to the 
independence of the Grecian cities in Asia Minor, and 
promising not to spread a sail on the ^gean Sea, nor bring 
a soldier within tln*ee davs' march of its coast. 



PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 

(431-404 B. c.) 
Causes of the War. — The meddling of Athens in the 
affairs of her allies, and the use of their contributions 
(p. 134) to erect her own public buildings, had aroused bitter 
hatred. Sparta, jealous of the glory and fame of her rival, 
watched every chance to interfere. At last an opportunity 
came. A quarrel arose between Corinth and her colony 
of Corcyra. Athens favored Corey ra ; Sparta, Corinth. 
Nearly all Greece took sides in the dispute, according to race 
or political sympathy ; the real question at issue being the 
broad one, whether the ruHng power in HeUas should be 
Athens — Ionic, democratic and maritime ; or Sparta — Doric, 
aristocratic and military. The lonians and the democracy 
naturally aided Athens; the Dorians and the aristocracy, 
Sparta. Both parties were sometimes found within the same 
city, contending for the supremacy. 



Allies of Athens. 
All the islands of the iEgean (except 
Melos and Thera), Corcyra, Zacynthos, 
( hios, Lesbos, and Samos ; the nu- 
meroiis Greek colonies on the coast 
of Asia Minor, Tlirace, and Macedon ; 
Naupactus, Platsea, and a part of Acar- 
uania. 



Allies of Sparta. 
All the states of the Peloponnesus 
(except Argos and Achaia, whicli ri-- 
mained neutral) ; Locris, Phocis, ami 
Megara; Ambracia, Anactoriuiu, and 
the island of Leucas; and the stronK 
Boeotian League, of which Thebes was 
the head. 



140 GREECE. [431b. C. 

Conduct of the War. — The Spartan plan was to invade 
Attica, destroy tlie crops, and persuade the Athenian aUies to 
desert her. As Sparta was strong on hind, and Athens on 
water, Pericles ordered the people of Attica to take refuge 
within the Long Walls of the city, while the fleet and army 
ravaged the coast of the Peloponnesus. When, therefore, 
Archida^mus, king of Sparta, invaded Attica, the people 
flocked into the city with all their movable ^possessions. 
Temporary buildings were erected in every vacant place in 
the public squares and streets, while the poorest of the 
populace were forced to seek protection in squalid huts 
beneath the shelter of the Long Walls. Pitiable indeed was 
the condition of the inhabitants during these hot summer 
days, as they saw the enemy, without hindrance, burning 
their homes and destroying their crops, while the Athenian 
fleet was off ravaging the coast of Peloponnesus. But it 
was worse the second year, when a fearful pestilence broke 
out in the crowded population. Many died, among them 
Pericles himself (429 B. c.).^ This was the greatest loss of 
all, for there was no statesman left to guide the people. 

1 " Wlien, at the opening of the Peloponneaian war, the long enjoyment of every 
comfort which peace and civilization could bring was interrupted hy hostile invasion ; 
when the whole population of Attica was crowded within the city of Athens ; when, 
to the intlamniahle materials which the populace of a Grecian town would always 
afford, were added the discontented land-owners and peasants from the country, who 
were obliged to exchange the olive glades of Colonus, the thymy slopes of Hymettus, 
and the oak forests of Acharnae, for the black shade of the Pelasgicum and the 
stifling huts along the dusty plain between the Long Walls ; when without were 
seen the Are and smoke ascending from the ravage of their beloved orchards and 
gardens, and within the excitement was aggravated by the little knots which gath- 
ered at every corner, and by the predictions of impending evil which were handed 
about from mouth to mouth,— when all these feelings, awakened by a situation so 
wholly new in a population so irritable, turned against one man as the author of the 
present distress, then it was seen how their respect for that one man united with 
their inherent respect for law to save the state. Not only did Pericles restrain the 
more eager spirits from sallying forth to defend their burning property, not only did 
he calm and elevate their despondency by his speeches in the Pnyx and Ceramicus, 
not only did he refuse to call an assembly, but no attempt at an assembly was ever 
made. The groups in the streets never grew into a mob, and, even when to the hor- 
rors of a blockade were added those of a pestilence, public tranquillity was never for 
a moment disturbed, the order of the constitution was never for a moment infringed. 



429 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 141 

Demagogues now arose, chief among whom was Cleon^ a 
cruel, ari'ogant boaster, who gained power by flattering the 
populace. About this time, also, the Spartans began to 
build ships to dispute the empire of the sea, on which Athens 
had so long triumphed. 

The Memorable Siege of Plataea, which began in the 
third year of the war, illustrates the desperation and destruc- 
tion that characterized this terrible struggle of twenty- 
seven years. In spite of Pausanias's oath (p. 134), Archida'- 
mus with the Spartan army attacked this city, which was 
defended by only four hundred and eighty men. First the 
Spartan general closed every outlet by a wooden palisade, 
and constiiicted an inclined plane of earth and stone, 
up which his men (^ould advance to hurl theii- weapons 
against the city. This work cost seventy days' labor of the 
whole army, but the garrison undermined the mound and 
destroyed it entii-ely. Next the Spartans built around the 

Aiu\ yet the man who thus swayed the minds of his fellow-citizens was the reverse 
of a demagogue. XTnlike his aristocratic rival, Cinion, he never won their favor by 
indiscriminate bounty. Unlike his democratic successor, Cleon, he never infiuencet. 
their passions bj' coarse invectives. Unlike his kinsman, Alcibiades, he never sought 
to dazzle them by a display of his genius or his wealth. At the very moment when 
Pericles was preaching the necessity of manful devotion to the common country, he 
was himself the greatest of sufferers. The epidemic carried off his two sons, his 
sister, several other relatives, and his best and most useful political friends. Amidst 
this train of calamities he maintained his habitual self-command, until the death of 
his favorite son Paralus left his house without a legitimate representative to maintain 
the family and its hereditary sacred rites. On this final blow,— the greatest that, 
according to the Greek feeling, could befall any human being,— though he strove to 
command himself as before, yet at the obsequies of the young man, when it became 
his duty to place a garland on the dead body, his grief became uncontrollable, and he 
burst into tears. Every feeling of resentment seems to have passed away from the 
hearts of the Athenian people before the touching sight of the marble majesty of 
their great statesman yielding to the common emotion of their own excitable nature. 
Every measure was passed which could alleviate this deepest sorrow of his declining 
age. But it was too late, and he soon sank into the stupor from which he never 
recovered. As he lay apparently passive in the hands of tlie nurse, who had hung 
round his neck the amulets which in life and health he had scorned, whilst his 
friends were dwelling with pride on the nine trophies which on Ba'otia and Samos, and 
on the shores of Peloponnesus, bore witness to his success during his forty-years' 
career, the dying man .suddenlj'^ broke in with the emphatic words, ' That of which \ 
am most proud you have left unsaid : No Athenian, through my fault, was ever 
clothed in the black garb of mourning.' "—Quarterly Review. 



429-427 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 143 

city two concentric walls, and roofed over tlie space between 
them so as to give shelter to the soldiers on guard. For two 
long years the Plata^ans endured all the horrors of a siege. 
Provisions ran low, and one stormy December night a part 
of the men stole out of the gate, placed ladders against the 
Spartan wall, climbed to the top, killed the sentinels, and 
escaped through the midst of the enemy with the loss of only 
one man. The rest of the garrison were thus enabled to 
hold out some time longer. But at length their food was 
exhausted, and they were forced to surrender. The cruel 
Spartans put every man to death, and then, to please the 
Thebans, razed the city to the ground. Heroic little Platgea 
was thus blotted out of the map of Greece.^ 

Alcibi'ades, a young nobleman, the nephew of Pericles 
and pupil of Socrates, by his wealth, beauty, and talent, 
next won the ear of the crowd. Reckless and dissolute, 
with no heart, conscience, or principle, he cared for nothing 
except his owm ambitious schemes. Though peace had then 
come through the negotiations of Nicias, the favorite 
Athenian general, it was broken by the influence of this 
demagogue, and the bloody contest renewed. 

Expedition to Sicily (415 b. c). — The oppressions of 
the tyrants of Syracuse, a Dorian city in Sicily, gave an ex- 
cuse for seizing that island, and Alcibiades advocated this 
brilliant scheme, which promised to make Athens irresistible. 
The largest fleet and army HeUas had yet sent forth were 
accordingly equipped. One morning, just before their de- 
parture, the busts of Hermes, that were placed along the roads 
of Attica to mark the distance, and in front of the Athenian 
houses as protectors of the people, were found to be muti- 
lated. The populace, in dismay, lest a curse should fall on 
the city, demanded the punishment of those who had com- 

1 It was restored 387 b. c, again destroyed 374 u. c, and again rebuilt 338 b. c. 
BO H— 9 



144 GREECE. [415 B.C. 

mitted this sacrilegious act. It was probable that some 
drunken revelers had done the mischief ; but the enemies of 
Alcibiades made the people believe that he was the offender. 
After he sailed he was cleared of this charge, but a new one 
impended. This was that he had privately performed the 
Eleusinian mysteries (p. 184) for the amusement of his 
friends. To answer this heinous offense, Alcibiades was 
summoned home, but he escaped to Sparta, and gave the 
rival city the benefit of his powerful support. Meanwhile 
the exasperated Athenians condemned him to death, seized 
his property, and called upon the priests to pronounce him 
accursed. 

The expedition had now lost the only man who could 
have made it a success. Nicias, the commander, was old 
and sluggish. Disasters followed apace. Finally Gylippns, 
a famous Spartan general, came to the help of Syracuse. 
Athens sent a new fleet and army, but she did not furnish a 
better leader, and the reenforcement served only to increase 
the final ruin. In a great sea-fight in the harbor of Syracuse 
the Athenian ships were defeated, and the troops attempt- 
ing to flee by land were overtaken and forced to surrender 
(413 B. c). 

Fall of Athens. — The proud city was now doomed. 
Her best soldiers were dying in the dungeons of Syracuse. 
Her treasury was empty. Alcibiades was pressing on her 
destruction with aU his revengeful genius. A Spartan gar- 
rison held Decelea, in the heart of Attica. The Athenian 
allies dropped off. The Ionic colonies revolted. Yet with 
the energy of despair Athens dragged out the unequal con- 
test nine years longer. The recall of Alcibiades gave a 
gleam of success. But victory at the price of submission 
to sush a master was too costly, and he was dismissed. 
Persian gold gave weight to the Lacedaemonian sword and 



405 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 145 

equipped her fleet. The last sliips of Athens were taken 
by Lysander, the Spartan, at ^gospotanii in the Hellespont 
(405 B. c). Sparta now controlled the sea, and Athens, its 
harbor blockaded, suffered famine in addition to the horrors 
of war. The proud city surrendered at last (404 b. c). Her 
ships were given up ; and the Long Walls were torn down 
amid the playing of flutes and the rejoicings of dancers, 
crowned with garlands, as for a festival. " That day was 
deemed by the Peloponnesians," says Xenophon, '^ the com- 
mencement of liberty for Greece." 

Thus ended the Peloponnesian war, twenty-sever years 
after its commencement, and seventy-six years after Salamis 
had laid the foundation of the Athenian power. Athens 
had fallen, but she possessed a kingdom of which Sparta 
could not deprive her. She still remained the mistress of 
Greece in literature and art. 

The Thirty Tyrants. — A Spartan garrison was now 
placed on the Acropolis at Athens, and an oUgarchy of thirty 
persons established. A reign of terror followed. The 
" Thiity Tyrants " put hundreds of citizens to death without 
form of trial. After they had ruled only eight months, the 
Athenian exiles returned in arms, overthrew the tyrants, and 
reestablished a democratic government. 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand (401 b. c). — Now that 
peace had come at home, over ten thousand restless Greeks ^ 
went away to help Cyrus the Younger, satrap of Asia Minor, 
dethrone his elder brother, Artaxerxes. At Cunaxa, near 
Babylon, they routed the Persians. But Cyrus feU, and, to 
complete their misfortune, their chief officers were induced 
to visit the enemy's camp, where they were treacherously 
taken prisoners. Left thus in the heart of the Persian Em- 

1 Greece at tliis time was full of soldiers of fortune,— men who made war a trade, 
and served anybody wlio was able to pay them. 



146 GREECE. [401 B.C. 

pire, the little army chose new captains, and decided to cut 
its way home again. All were ignorant alike of the route 
and the language of the people. Hostile troops swarmed 
on every side. Guides misled them. Famine threatened 
them. Snows overwhelmed them. Yet they struggled on 
for months. When one day ascending a mountain, there 
broke from the van the joyful shout of " The sea ! The 
sea ! " It was the Euxine, — a branch of that sea whose 
waters washed the shores of their beloved Greece. 

About three-fourths of the original number survived to 
tell the story of that wonderful march (p. 172). Such an 
exploit, while it honored the endurance of the Greek soldier, 
revealed the weakness of the Persian Empire. 



LACED^MON AND THEBAN DOMINION. 

Lacedaemon Rule (405-371 b. c). — Tempted by the glit- 
tering prospect of Eastern conquest, Sparta sent Agesila'us 
into Asia. His success there made Artaxerxes tremble for 
his throne. Again Persian gold was thrown into the scale. 
The Athenians were helped to rebuild the Long Walls, and 
soon their flag floated once more on the ^gean. Conon, the 
Athenian admiral, defeated the Spartan fleet off Cnidus, 
near Rhodes (394 b. c). In Greece the Spartan rule, cruel 
and coarse, had already become unendm*able. In every 
town Sparta sought to estabhsh an oligarchy of ten citizens 
favorable to herself, and a harmost, or governor. Wherever 
popular Uberty asserted itself, she endeavored to extinguish 
it by military force. But the cities of Corinth, Argos, 
Thebes, and Athens struck for freedom. Sparta was forced 
to recall Agesilaus. Strangely enough, she now made friends 
.with the Persian king, who dictated the Peace of Antalci- 



387 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 147 

das ^ (387 B. c). This ended the war, and gave Asia Minor 
to Persia. So low had Hellas fallen since the days of Salamis 
and Platipa ! 

Theban Rule (371-362 b. c.).— At the very height of 
Sparta's arrogance her humiliation came. The Boeotian 
League (p. 139) having been restored, and the oligarchical 
governments favorable to Sparta overtlu-own, a Spartan 
army invaded that state. At this juncture there arose in 
Thebes a great general, Epaminondas, who made the Theban 
army the best in the land. On the famous field of Lenctra 
(371 B. c), by throwing heavy columns against the long 
lines of Spartan soldiers, he beat them for the first time in 
their history.- The charm of Lacedaemonian invincibility 
was broken. The stream of Persian gold now tui*ned into 
Thebes. The tyrannical Spartan Jiarmosfs were expelled 
from all the cities. To curb the power of Sparta, the inde- 
pendence of Messenia, after three centuries of slavery, was 
reestablished (p. 121). Arcadia was united in a league, 
having as its head Megalopolis, a new city now founded. A 
wise, pure-hearted statesman, Epaminondas sought to com- 
bine Hellas, and not, like the leaders of Athens or Sparta, 

1 So named from the Spartan envoy who managed it. This peace was a monrnful 
incident in Grecian liistory. Its true character cannot be better described than by a 
brief remark and reply cited in Plutarch : " Alas, for Hellas! " observed some one to 
Agesilaus, " when we see our Laconiaus Medizing ! "— " Nay," replied the Spartan 
king, "say rather the Medes (Persians) Laconizing." 

2 The Spartan lines were twelve ranks deep. Epaminondas (fighting en echelon) 
made his, at the point where he wished to break through, flf tj' ranks deep. At his 
side always fought liis intimate friend Pelopidas, wlio commanded the Sacred Band. 
This consisted of three hundred brothers-inarms,— men who had known one another 
from childhood, and were sworn to live and die together. In the crisis of the struggle 
Epaminondas cheered his men with the words, " One step forward ! " Wliile the by- 
standers after the battle were congratulating him over his victorj^ he replied tliat 
his greatest pleasure was in thinking how it wouhl gratify liis father and mother. 
Soon after Epaminondas returned from the battle of Leuctra, his enemies secured 
his election as public scavenger. The noble-spirited man immediately accepted the 
office, declaring tliat " tlie place did not confer dignity on tlie man, but the man on 
the place," and executed the duties of this unworthy post so efficiently as to baffle 
the malice of his foes. 



148 GREECE. [362 b. c. 

selfishly to rule it. Athens at first aided him, aud then, 
jealous of his success, sided with Lacedt^mon. At Manfinea 
(362 B. c), in Ai'cadia, Epaminondas fought his last battle, 
and died at the moment of victory.^ As he alone had made 
Thebes great, she di-opped at once to her former level. 

Three states in succession — Athens, Sparta, and Thebes — 
had risen to take the lead in Greece. Each had failed. 
Hellas now lay a mass of quarreling, struggling states. 



MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. 

Rise of Macedonia. — The Macedonians were aUied to 
the Greeks, and their kings took part in the Ol^Tupian 
games. They were, however, a very different people. In- 
stead of living in a nniltitude of free cities, as in Greece, 
they dwelt in the country, and were aU governed by one 
king. The polite and refined Athenian looked upon the 
coarse Macedonian as almost a barbarian. But about the 
time of the f aU of Athens these rude northerners were fast 
taking on the Greek civilization. 

Philip (359-336 b. c.) came to the throne of Macedonia 
well schooled for his career. A hostage for many years at 
the Theban court, he understood Grecian diplomacy and 
military art. He was now determined to be recognized not 
only as a Greek among Greeks, but as the head of all Greece. 
To this he bent every energj^ of his strong, wily nature. 
He extended his kingdom, and made it a compact empii-e. 
He thoroughly organized his army, and formed the famous 

1 He was pierced with a jaTelin, and to extract the weapon would cause his death 
by bleeding. Being carried out of the battle, like a true soldier he asked tirst about 
his shield, then waited to learn the issue of the contest. Hearing the cries of vic- 
tory, he drew out the shaft with his own hand, and died a few moments after. 



359 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTOItY 



149 




I'OlillCAl 1 Ol- I'i 111,11' OF 
MACfeDON. 



Ma(;eclonian phalanx,^ that, for two centuries after, decided 
tlie day (ju every field on which it appeared. He. craftily 
mixed in Grecian affaii-s, and took such an active part in tlie 
Sacred War 2 (355-34G B. c), that he 
was admitted to the Amphictyonic 
Council (p. 115). Demosthenes, the 
great Athenian orator, seemed the 
only man clear-headed enough to 
detect Philip's scheme. His eloquent 
" Pliihppics" (p. 202) at last aroused 
his apathetic countrj^men to a sense 
of their danger. The Second Sacred 
War, declared by the Amphictyons 
against the Locrians for alleged sacri- 
lege, having been intrusted to Philip, 
that monarch marched through Ther- 
mopylae, and his designs against the 
liberties of Gfeece became but too evident. Thebes and 
Athens now took the field. But at CJicerone'a (338 B. c.) the 
Macedonian phalanx annihilated theii* armies, the Sacred 
Band perishing to a man. 
Greece was prostrate at Philip's feet. In a congress of 

1 The peculiar feature of this body was that the men were armed witli huge 
lances twenty-one feet long. The lines were placed so that tlie front rank, composed 
of the strongest and most experienced soldiers, was protected by a hiistling mass of 
five rows of lance-points, tlieir own extending fifteen feet before them, and the rest 
twelve, nine, six, and three feet respectively. Fonned in a solid mass, tisually six- 
teen ranks deep, shield touching shield, and marching with the precision of a ma- 
chine, the phalanx charge was irresistible. The .Spartans, canying spears only about 
half as long, could not reach the Macedonians. 

2 The pretext for the First Sacred War is said to have been that the Phocians 
had cultivated lands consecrated to Apollo. The Amphictyonic Council, led by 
Thebes, inflicted a heavy fine upon them. Thereupon they seized the Temple at 
Delplii, and finally, to furnish means for prolonging the struggle, sdld the riches 
accumulated from the pious offerings of the men of a better daj'. Tlie Grecians 
were first shocked and then demoralized by this impious act. Tlie holiest objects 
circulated among the people, and were put to conim<m uses. All reverence for the 
gods and sacred things was lost. The ancient patriotism went with the religion^ 
and Hellas was forever fallen from her high estate. Jivery where her sous were ready 
to sell their swords to the highe-f i j.M.r 



150 



QREECE. 



[337-336 B. C. 



all the states except Sparta, he was appointed to lead their 
united forces against Persia. But while preparing to start 
he was assassinated (336 B. c.) at his daughter's marriage feast. 




A TETRADUACHM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

Alexander,^ his son, succeeded to Philip's throne and 
ambitious projects. Though only twenty years old, he was 

1 On the day of Alexander's birth, Philip received news of the defeat of the 
Illyrians, and that his horses had won in the Olyminan chariot-races. Overwhehned 
by such fortune, the monarch exclaimed, "Great Jupiter, send me only some slight 
reverse in return for so many blessings ! " That same day also the famous Temple 
of Diana, at Ephesus, was burned by an incendiar3^ Alexander was wont to consider 
this an omen that he should himself kindle a flame in Asia. On his father's side he was 
said to be descended from Ilercules, and on his mother's from Achilles. He became 
a pupil of Aiistotle (p. 176), to whom Philip wrote, announcing Alexander's biith, 
saying that lie knew not which gave him the greater pleasure,— that he had a son, or 
that Aristotle could be his son's teacher. The young prince at fourteen tamed the 
noble horse Bucephalus, which no one at the Macedonian court dared to mount ; at 
sixteen he saved his father in battle, and at eighteen defeated the Sacred Band 
upon the field at Chaeronea. Before setting out upon his Persian expedition, he con- 
sulted the oracle at Delphi. The priestess refused to go to the shrine, as it was an 
unlucky day. Alexander thereupon grasped her arm. "Ah, my son," exclaimed 
she, "thou art irresistible! "—"Enough," shouted the delighted monarch, "I ask 
no other reply." He was equally happy of thought at Gordium. Here he was shown 
the famous Gordian knot, which, it was said, no one could untie except the one des- 
tined to be the conqueror of Asia. He tried to unravel the cord, but, failing, drew 
his sword and severed it at a blow. Alexander always retained a warm love for his 
mother, Olympias. She, however, was a violent woman. Antip'ater, who was left 
governor of Macedon during Alexander's absence, wrote, complaining of her conduct. 
"Ah," said the king, " Antipater does not know that one tear of a mother will blot 
out ten thousand of his letters." Uufoi-tunately, the hero who subdued the known 
world had never conquered himself. In a moment of drunken passion he slew Clitus, 
his dearest friend, who had saved his life in battle. He shut liimself up for days 
after this horrible deed, lamenting his crime, and refusing to eat or to transact any 
business. Yet in soberness and calmness he tortured and hanged Callisthenes, a 
Greek author, because he would not w^orship him as a god. Carried away by his 
success, he finally sent to Greece, ordering his name to be enrolled among the deities. 
Said the Spartans in reply, " If Alexander will be a god, let him-" 



336 B. C.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 151 

more tlian liis father's equal in statesmanship and military 
skill. Thebes having revolted, he sold its inhabitants as 
slaves, and razed the city, sparing only the temples and the 
house of Pindar the poet. This terrible example quieted 
aU opposition. He was at once made captain-general of the 
Grecian forces to invade Persia, and, soon after, he set out 
upon that perilous expedition from which he never returned. 
Alexander's Marches and Conquests. — In 334 b. c. 
Alexander crossed the Hellespont with thirty thousand in- 
fantry and four thousand five hundred cavalry. He was the 
first to leap on the Asiatic shore. ^ Pressing eastward, he 
defeated the Persians in two great battles, — one at the river 
Graniciis, and the other at Issus.^ Then he turned south 
and besieged Tyre. To reach the island on which the city 
stood, he built a stone pier two hundi-ed feet mde and half 
a mile long, on which he rolled his ponderous machines, 
breached the wall, and carried the place by a desperate 
assault. Thence passing into Egypt, that country fell with- 
out a blow. Here he founded the famous city of Alexandria 
(p, 154). Resuming his eastern march, he routed the Persian 
host, a million strong, on the decisive field of Arhela. Baby- 
lon was entered in triumph. Persepolis (p. 94) was burned 
to avenge the destruction of Athens one hundi^ed and fifty 
years before (p. 132). Darius was pursued so closely, that, 
to prevent his falling into tHe conqueror's possession, he was 
slain by a noble. 

1 Alexander was a great lover of Homer (p. lf)2), and slept with a copy of the Iliad 
under liis pillow. While his army was now landing, he visited the site of Troy, offered 
a sacrilico at the tomb of Acliilles, hung up his own shield in the temple, and, taking 
down one said to have belonged to a hero of the Trojan war, ordered it to be 
henceforth carried before him in battle. 

2 Just before this engagement Alexander was attacked by a fever in consequence 
of bathing in the cold water of the Cydnus. While sick he was informed that his 
phj'sician Philip had been bribed by Darius to poison him. As Philip came into the 
room, Alexander handed him tlie letter containing the warning, and then, before the 
doctor could speak, swallowed the medicine. His contidence was rewarded by a 
speedy recovery. 



152 GREECE. [326B.C. 

The mysterious East still alluring him on, Alexander, 
exploring, conqiiering,i founding cities, at last reached the 
river Hyph'asis, where his army refused to proceed fm^ther 
in the unknown regions. Instead of going directly back, 
he built vessels, and descended the Indus; thence the fleet 
cruised along the coast, while the troops returned through 
Gedro'sia (Beloochistan), suffering fearful hardships in its 
inhospitable deserts.^ When he reached Babylon, ten years 
had elapsed since he crossed the Hellespont. 

The next season, while just setting out from Babylon 
upon a new expedition into Arabia, he died (323 B. c). 
With him perished his schemes and his empire. 

Alexander's Plan was to mold the diverse nations 
which he had conquered into one vast empire, with the 
capital at Babylon. Having been the Cyrus, he desired to 
be the Darius of the Persians. He sought to break down 
the distinctions between the Greek and the Persian. He 
married the Princess Roxana, the "Pearl of the East," 
and induced many of his army to take Persian wives. He 
enlisted twenty thousand Persians into the Macedonian 
phalanx, and appointed natives to high office. He wore the 
Eastern dress, and adopted oriental ceremonies in his court. 
He respected the rehgion and the government of the various 
countries, restrained the satraps, and ruled more beneficently 
than their own monarchs. 

The Results of the thii-teen years of Alexander's reign 
have not yet disappeared. Great cities were founded by 



1 Porus, au Indian prince, heici the banks of the Hydaspes with three hundred 
war-chariots and two liundred elephants. The Indians being defeated, Porns was 
brought into Alexander's presence. When asked what he wished, Porus replied, 
"Nothing except to be treated like a king." Alexander, struck by the answer, gave 
him his liberty, and enlarged his territory. 

2 One day while Alexander was parched with thirst, a drink of water was given 
him, but he tlirew it on the ground lest the sight of his pleasure should aggravate the 
suffering of his men. 



336-323 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY, 



153 



him, or his generals, which are still marts of trade. Com- 
merce received new life. Greek culture and civilization 
spread over the Orient, and the Greek language became, if 
not the common speech, at least the medium of communi- 
cation among educated people from the Adriatic to the 
Indus. So it came about, that, when Greece had lost her 
national liberty, she suddenly attained, through her con- 
querors, a world-wide empire over the minds of men. 

But while Asia became thus Hellenized, the East exerted a 
reflex influence upon Hellas. As Rawlinson well remarks, — 

"The Oriental habits of servility and adulation superseded the old free-spoken 
independence and manliness; patriotism and public spirit disappeared; luxury- 
increased ; literature lost its vigor ; art deteriorated ; and the people sank into a 
nation of pedants, parasites, and adventurers." 



ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS. 

Alexander's Principal Generals, soon after his 
death, divided his empire among themselves. A mortal 
struggle of twenty- two years followed, during which these 
officers, released from the strong hand of their master, 
"fought, quarreled, grasped, and wrangled like loosened 
tigers in an amphitheater." The greed and jealousy of the 
generals, or kings as they were called, were equaled only 
by the treachery of their men. Finally, by the decisive battle 
of Ipsus (301 B. c), the conflict was ended, and the following 
distribution of the territory made : — 



Ptolemy 
received Egypt, and 
conquered all of 
Palestine, PhCEuicia, 
and Cyprus. 



Lysim'achus 
received Thrace and 
nearly all of Asia 
Minor. 



Seleucus 
received Syria and 
the East, and he af- 
terward conquered 
Asia Minor, Lysim- 
achus being slain. 



Cassander 
received Macedon 
and Oreece. 



Ptolemy founded a flourishing Greek kingdom in Egypt. 
The Greeks, attracted by his benign rule, flocked thither in 



154 GREECE. [323 b. c. 

multitudes. The Egyptians were protected in their ancient 
religion, laws, and customs, so that these stiff-necked rebels 
against the Persian rule quietly submitted to the Macedonian. 
The Jews ^ in large numbers found safety under his paternal 
government. This threefold population gave to the second 
civilization which grew up on the banks of the Nile a pe- 
culiarly cosmopolitan character. The statues of the Greek 
gods were mingled with those of Osii'is and Isis ; the same 
hieroglyphic word was used to express a Greek and a lower 
Egyptian ; and even the Jews forgot the language of Pales- 
tine, and talked Greek. Alexandria thus became, under the 
Ptolemies, a brilliant center of commerce and civilization. 
The building of a commodious harbor and a superb light- 
house, and the opening of a canal to the Red Sea, gave a 
great impetus to the trade with Arabia and India. Grecian 
architects made Alexandria, with its temples, obelisks, 
palaces, and theaters, the most beautiful city of the times. 
Its white marble lighthouse, called the Pharos, was one of 
the Seven Wonders of the World (p. 601). At the center of 
the city, where its two grand avenues crossed each other, in 
the midst of gardens and fountains, stood the Mausoleum, 
which contained the body of Alexander, embalmed in the 
Egyptian manner. 

The Alexandrian Museum and Lihrary founded by 
Ptolemy I. (Soter), but greatly extended by Ptolemy II. 
(Philadelphus), and enriched by Ptolemy III. (Euergetes), 
were the grandest monuments of this Greco-Egyptian 
kingdom. The Library comprised at one time, in aU its 
collections, seven hundred thousand volumes. The Museum 
was a stately marble edifice surrounded by a portico, beneath 
which the philosophers walked and conversed. The pro- 

1 They had a temple at Alexandria similar to the oue at Jerusalem, and for their 
use tlie Old Testannint was translated into Greek (275-250 B. c). From the fact that 
seventy scholars perfoimed this work, it is termed the Septuagint. 



323-222 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 155 

fessors and teachers were all kept at the public expense. 
There were connected with this institution a botanical and 
a zoological garden, an astronomical ol^servatory, and a 
chemical hiboratory. Tp this grand university resorted the 
scholars of the world (see Steele's New Astronomy, p. 9). 
At one time in its history there were in attendance as many 
as fourteen thousand persons. Wliile wars shook Europe 
and Asia, Archimedes and Hero the philosophers, Apelles 
the painter, Hipparchus and Ptolemy the astronomers, Euclid 
the geometer, Eratosthenes and Strabo the geographers, 
Manetho the historian, Aiistophanes the rhetorician, and 
Apollonius the poet, labored in quiet upon the peaceful 
banks of the Nile. Probably no other school of learning 
has ever exerted so wide an influence. When CaBsar wished 
to re\dse the calendar, he sent for Sosigenes the Alexandrian. 
Even the early Christian church drew, from what the ancients 
loved to call "the divine school at Alexandria," some of its 
most eminent Fathers, as Origen and Athanasius. Modern 
science itseK dates its rise from the study of nature that 
began under the shadow of the P^^amids. 

Last of the Ptolemies. — The first three Ptolemies were 
able rulers. Then came ten weak or corrupt successors. 
The last Ptolemy married his sister,^ the famous Cleopatra 
(p. 254), who shared his throne. At her death Egypt became 
a pro\'ince of Rome (30 b. c). 

Seleucus was a conqueror, and his kingdom at one time 
stretched from the ^gean to India, comprising nearly all 
the former Persian empire. He was a famous founder of 
cities, nine of which were named for himself, and sixteen 
for his son Antiochus. One of the latter, Antioch in SjTia 
(Acts xi. 26, etc.), became the capital instead of Babylon. 
The descendants of Seleucus (Seleucidae) were unable to 

1 This kind of faiuily intermarriiige was coinnion among the Pharaohs. 



156 GREECE. [65 B.C. 

retain his vast conquests, and one province after another 
dropped away, until the wide empire finally shrank into 
Syria, which was grasped by the Romans (65 B. c). 

Several Independent States arose in Asia during 
this eventful period. Fergamus became an independent 
kingdom on the death of Seleucus I. (280 b. c), and, mainly 
through the favor of Rome, absorbed Lydia, Phrygia, and 
other provinces. The city of Pergamus, with its school of 
literatiu-e and magnificent public buildings, rivaled the 
glories of Alexandria. The rapid growth of its library so 
aroused the jealousy of Ptolemy that he forbade the export 
of papyrus ; whereupon Eumenes, king of Pergamus, resorted 
to parchment, which he used so extensively for writing that 
this material took the name of pergamena. By the will 
of the last king of Pergamus, the kingdom fell to Rome 
(p. 237). Farthia arose about 255 b. c. It gradually spread, 
until at one time it stretched from the Indus to the Euphra- 
tes. Never absorbed into the Roman dominion, it remained 
throughout the palmy days of that empire its dreaded foe. 
The twenty-ninth of the Ai'sacidae, as its kings were called, 
was driven from the throne by Artaxerxes, a descendant of 
the ancient line of Persia, and, after an existence of about 
five centuries, the Parthian Empire came to an end. It was 
succeeded by the new Persian monarchy or kingdom of the 
Sassanidae (226-652 a. d.). Fontus, a rich kingdom of Asia 
Minor, became famous through the long wars its great king 
Mithridates V. carried on with Rome (p. 243). 

Greece and Macedonia, after Alexanders time, pre- 
sent little historic interest.^ The chief feature was that 
nearly aU the Grecian states, except Sparta, in order to make 

1 In 279 B. c. there was a fearful irruption of the Gauls under Biennus (see 
Brief Hist. France, p. 10). Greece was ravaged by the barbarians. They were finally 
expelled, and a remnant founded a province in Asia Minor named Galatia, to whose 
people in later times St. Paul directed one of his Epistles. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 157 

head against Macedonia, formed leagues similar to that of 
oui- government dming the Revolution. The principal ones 
were the Achcean and the ^-EtoUan. But the old feuds and 
petty strifes continued until all were swallowed up in the 
world-wide dominion of Rome, 146 B. c. (p. 236). 

Athens under the Romans was prosperous. Other 
centers of learning existed, — Alexandria, Marseilles, Tarsus ; 
but scholars from all parts of the extended empire of 
Rome still flocked to Athens to complete then- education. 
True, war had laid waste the groves of Plato and the garden 
in which Epicui'us lived, yet the charm of old associations 
continued to linger around these sacred places, and the 
Four Schools of Philosophy (p. 175) maintained their hold 
on public thought.^ The Emperor Hadi'ian (p. 261) estab- 
lished a hbrary, and built a pantheon and a gymnasium. 
The Antonines endowed university professorships. So late 
as the close of the 4th century a. d. a wi'iter describes the aii's 
put on by those who thought themselves " demigods, so proud 
are they of having. looked on the Academy and Lyceum, 
and the Porch where Zeno reasoned." But with the fall 
of Paganism and the growth of legal studies — so peculiar to 
the Roman character — Athens lost her importance, and her 
schools were closed by Justinian (529 a. d.). 

1 It is strange to hear Cicero, in De Finibus, speak of tliese scenes as already classic 
ground : " After hearing Antiochus in the Ptolemaeum, with Piso and my brother 
and Pomponius, ... we agreed to take our evening walk in the Academy. So we all 
met at Piso's house, and, chatting as we went, walked the six stadia between the Gate 
Uipylum and the i^ca<lemy. When we reached the scenes so justly famous, we 
found the quietude w -^ craved. ' Is it a natural sentiment,' asked Piso, ' or a mere 
illusion, which makes i-s more affected when we see the spots frequented by men 
worth remembering than when we merely hear their deeds or read their works? It 
is thus tliat I feel touched at present, for I think of Plato, who, as we are told, was 
wont to lecture here. Not only do those gardens of his, close by, remind me of him, 
but I seem to fancy him before my eyes. Here stood Speusippus, here Xenocrates, 
here his hearer Polemon.' , . . 'Yes,' said Quintus, 'what you say, Piso, is quite 
true, for as I was coming hither, Colonus, yonder, called my thoughts away, and made 
me fancy that I saw its inmate Sophocles, for whom you know my passionate admi- 
ration.'—' And I, too,' said Pomponius, ' whom you often attack for my devotion to 
Epicurus, spend much time in hia garden, which we passed lately in our walk.' " 



158 GREECE. 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

"Athens is the school of Greece, and the Athenian is best fitted, by diversity of 
gifts, for the graceful performance of all life's Autiea."— Pericles. 

Athens and Sparta.— Though the Greeks comprised many 
distinct tribes, inhabiting separate cities, countries, and islands, 
having different laws, dialects, manners, and customs, Athens and 
Sparta were the great centers of Hellenic life. These two cities 
differed widely from each other in thought, habits, and tastes. 
Sparta had no part in Grecian art or literature. " There was no 
Spartan sculptor, no Laconian painter, no Lacedaemonian poet." 
From Athens, on the contrary, came the world's masterpieces in 
poetry, oratory, sculpture, and architecture. 



GREEK GALLEY WITH THREE BANKS OK OARS. 

Society.— The Athenians boasted that they were Autochthons, - 
t. e., sprung from the soil where they lived j and that their descent 
was direct from the sons of the gods. The ancient Attic tribes were 
divided into phratries, or fraternities ; the phratries into gentes, or 
clans ; and the gentes into hearths, or families. The four tribes 
were bound together by the common worship of Apollo Patrons, 
reputed father of their common ancestor. Ion. Each phratry had 
its particular sacred rites and civil compact, but all the phratries 
of the same tribe joined periodically in certain ceremonies. Each 
gens had also its own ancestral hero or god, its exclusive privilege 

1 In recognition of this belief, they wore in their hair, as an ornament, a golden 
grasshopper,— an insect liatched from eggs laid in the ground. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 159 

of priesthood, its compact of protection and defense, and its spe- 
cial burial-place. Last of all, every family had its private worship 
and exclusive ancestral rites. Thus their religfion both unified and 
separated the Greeks ; while the association of houses and brother- 
hoods powerfully influenced their early social and political life. 

Athens in her golden days had, as we have already seen, neitlier 
king nor aristocracy. Every free citizen possessed a voice in the 
general government, and zealously maintained his rights and 
liberty as a member of the state. Although to belong to an old and 
noble house gave a certain position among all true-born Athenians, 
there was little of the usual exclusiveness attending great wealth or 
long pedigree. An Athenian might be forced from poverty to wear 
an old and tattered cloak, or be only the son of a humble image- 
maker, as was Socrates, or of a cutler, as was Demosthenes, yet, if 
he had wit, bravery, and talent, he was as welcome to the brilliant 
private saloons of Athens as were the richest and noblest. 

Trade and Merchandise were as unpopular in most parts of 
Greece as in Persia. The Greeks regarded arms, agi'iculture, 
music, and gymnastics as the only occupations worthy a freeman. 
To profit by retail trade was esteemed a sort of cheating, and 
handicrafts were despised because they tied men down to work, 
and gave no leisure for athletic exercises or social cultui*e. In 
Sparta, where even agriculture was despised and all property was 
held in common, an Artisan had neither public influence nor 
political rights J while in Thebes no one who had sold in the 
market within ten years was allowed part in the government. 
Even in democratic Athens, where extensive interests in ship- 
building and navigation produced a strong sentiment in favor 
of commerce, the poor man who lived on less than ten cents a 
day, earned by serving on juries^ or in other pubUc caj)acities, 
looked with disdain on the practical mechanic and tradesman. 
Consequently most of the Athenian stores and shops belonged to 

1 There were ten courts in Athens, employing, ^hen all were open, six thousand 
jurymen. The Athenians had such a passion for hearing and deciding judicial and 
political questions, that they clamored for seats in the jury-box. Greek literature 
abounds with satires on this national peculiarity. In one of Lucian's dialogues, 
Menippus is represented as looking down from the moon and watching the character- 
istic pursuits of men. "The northern hordes were fighting, the Egyptians were 
plowing, the Phcenicians were carrj'ing their merchandise over the sea, the Spartans 
were whipping their cliildreu, and the Athenians were sitting in the jury-box.'" So 
also Aristophanes, in his satire called The Clouds, has his hero (Strepsiades) visit the 
School of Socrates, where he is shown a map of the world. 

Student.— "And here lies Athens." 

Stuep.—" Athens I nay, go to That cannot be. I see no law-courts tittinyt " 

B G H— 10 



160 



GREECE. 



aliens, who paid heavy taxes and made large profits. Solon sought 
to encourage manufacturing industries, and engaged in com- 
merce, for which he traveled ; Aristotle kept a druggist's shop 
in Athens j and even Plato, who shared the national prejudice 
against artisans, speculated in oil during his Egyptian tour. 

Sparta, with her two kings, powerful ephors, and landed aris- 
tocracy, presents a marked contrast to Athens. 

The Tivo Kings were supposed to have descended by different 
lines from the gods, and this belief preserved to them what little 
authority they retained under the supremacy of the ephors. They 
offered the monthly sacrifices to the gods, consulted the Delphian 
oracle, which always upheld their dignity, and had nominal com- 
mand of the army. On the other hand, war and its details were 
decided by the ephors, two of whom accompanied one king on the 
march. The kings were obhged monthly to bind themselves by 
an oath not to exceed the laws, the ephors also swearing on that 
condition to uphold the royal authority. In case of default, the 
kings were tried and severely fined, or had their houses burned. 

The population of Laconia, as we have seen, comprised Spar- 
tans, perioeki, and helots (p. 119). 

The Spartans lived in the city, and were 
the only persons eligible to public office. So 
long as they submitted to the prescribed 
discipline and paid their quota to the public 
mess, they were Equals. Those who were 
unable to pay their assessment lost their 
franchise, and were called Inferiors; but by 
meeting their public obligation they could 
at any time regain their privileges. 

The Periceki were native freemen. They in- 
habited the hundred townships of Laconia, 
having some liberty of local management, 
but subject always to orders from Sparta, 
the ephors having power to inflict the death 
penalty upon them without form of trial. 

The Helot was a serf bound to the soil, and 

belonged not so much to the master as to the 

state. He was the pariah of the land. If he 

dared to wear a Spartan bonnet, or even to 

sing a Spartan song, he was put to death. The old Egyptian 

kings thinned the ranks of their surplus rabble by that merciless 




GUECIAN PEA8ANJ 



THE CIVILIZATION. 161 

system of forced labor which produced the pyramids ; the Spar- 
tans did not put the blood of their helots to such useful account, 
but, when they became too powerful, used simply the knife and the 
dagger.i The helot served in war as a light-armed soldier attached 
to a Spartan or perioekian hoplite.^ Sometimes he was clothed in 
heavy armor, and was given freedom for superior bravery. But 
a freed helot was by no means equal to a perioekus, and liis 
known courage made him more than ever a man to be wak;hod. 

Literature.— In considering Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, 
and Persian literature, we have had only fragments, possessing 
little value for the present age except as historical curiosities, or 
as a means of insight into the life and attainments of the people. 
Grecian literature, on the contrary, exists to-day as a model. 
From it poets continue to draw their highest inspiration ; its first 
great historian is still known as the "Father of History;" its 
philosophy seems to touch every phase of thought and argument 
of which the human mind is capable ; and its oratory has never 
been surpassed. So vast a subject should be studied by itself, 
and in this book Ave can merely furnish a nucleus about which the 
pupil may gather in his futm-e reading the rich stores which 
await his industry. For convenience we shall classify it under 
the several heads of Poetry, History, Oratory, and Philosophy. 

Poetry. — Epics (Nan-ative Poems). — The earliest Grecian litera- 
ture of which we have any knowledge is in verse. In the dawn of 
Hellas, hymns of praise to the gods were performed in choral dances 
about shrines and altars, and heroic legends woven into ballads 
were musically chanted to the sound of a four- stringed lyi-e. 
With this rhythmical story-telling, the Rhapsodists {ode- stitchers) 
used to delight the listening multitudes on festive occasions in 

1 Tlie helots wave once free Greeks like their masters, whom they hated so bitterly 
tliat there was a saying, " A helot could eat a Spartan raw." They wore a sheep-skin 
garment and dog-skin cap as the contemptuous badge of their slavery. There waa 
constant danger of revolt, and from time to time the bravest of them w-jre secretly 
killed by a band of detectives appointed by the government for that purpose. Some- 
times a wholesale assassination was deemed necessarj'. During the Peloponnesian 
war the helots had shown so much gallantry in battle, that the Spartan authorities 
were alarmed. A notice was issued that two thousand of the bravest— selected by 
their fellows— should bo made free. There was great rejoicing among the deluded 
slaves, and the happy candidates, garlanded with flowers, were marched proudly 
through the streets and around the temples of the gods. Then they mysteriously 
disappeared, and were never heard of more. At the same time seven hundred other 
lielots were sent oflf to join the army, and the Spartans congratulated themselves on 
having done a wise and prudent deed. 

2 A hoplite was a heavy-armed infantryman. At Platsea every Spartan had seven 
helots, and every perioekus one helot to attend him. 



162 



GREECE 



princely halls, at Ampliictyonic gatherings, and at religious as- 
semblies. Among this troop of wandering minstrels there arose 

Homer ^ (about 1000 B.C.), 
an Asiatic Greek, whose 
name has become immortal. 
The Iliad and Odyssey are 
the grandest epics ever ^vT\t- 
ten. The first contains the 
story of the Siege of Troy 
(p. 115); the second narrates 
the wanderings of Ulysses, 
king of Ithaca, on his return 
from the Trojan Conquest. 
Homer's style is simple, ar- 
tistic, clear, and vivid. It 
abounds in sublime descrip- 
tion, delicate pathos, pure 
domestic sentiment, and no- 
ble conceptions of character. His verse strangely stirred the Gre- 
cian heart. The rhapsodist Ion describes the emotion it produced : 

"When that which I recite is iiathetic, my eyes fill with tears ; when it is awful 
or terrible, my hair stands on end, and my heart leaps. The spectatois also weep in 
sympathy, and look aghast with terror." 

Antiquity paid divine honors to Homer's name; the cities of 
Greece owned state copies of his works, which not even the treas- 
uries of kings could buyj and his poems were then, as now, the 
standard classics in a literary education (p. 179). 




1 According to tradition, Homer was a schoolmaster, who, wearying of confine- 
ment, began to travel. Having become blind In the course of his wanderings, he re- 
turned to his native town, where he composed his two great poems. Afterward he 
roamed from town to town, singing his lays, and adding to them as his inspiration 
came. Somewhere on the coast of the Levant he died and was buried. His birth- 
place is unknown, and, according to an old Greek epigram, 
" Seven rival towns contend for Homer dead, 
Through which the living Homer begged his bread." 
Many learned writers have doubted whether Homer ever existed, and regard the two 
great poems ascribed to him as a simple collection of heroic legends, recited by differ- 
ent bards, and finally woven into a continuous tale. The three oldest manuscripts 
we have of the Iliad came from Egypt, the last having been found under the head of a 
mummy excavated in 1887 at Hawara, in the Fayoom. Some critics assert that the 
story of tlie Siege of Troy is allegorical, a repetition of old Egyptian fancies, "founded 
on the daily siege of the east by the solar powers that every evening are robbed of 
their brightest treasures in the west." Dr. Schliemanu, a German explorer, un- 
eartlied (1872-82) in Asia Minor what is believed to be the Homeric Ilium. His dis- 
coveries are said to refute all skepticism as to the historic reality of the Siege of Troy. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 163 

Hesiod, who lived after the time of Homer, wrote two long 
poems, "Works aad Days" ^ and "Theogony." In the former he 
details his agricultural experiences, enriching them with fable, 
allegory, and moral reflections, and also furnishes a calendar of 
lucky and unlucky days for the use of farmers and sailors ; the 
latter gives an account of the origin and history of the thirty 
thousand Grecian gods, and the creation of the world. The Spar- 
tans, who despised agriculture, called Hesiod the " poet of the 
helots," in contrast with Homer, " the delight of warriors." In 
Athens, however, his genius was recognized, and his poems took 
their place with Homer's in the school education of the day. 

After Homer and Hesiod the poetic fire in Greece slumbered for 
over two hundred years. Then arose many lyric, elegiac, and 
epigi'ammatic poets, Avhose works exist only in fragments. 

TyrtceuSy "the lame old schoolmaster," invented the trumpet, 
and gained the triumph for Sparta ^ in the Second Messenian War 
by his impassioned battle-songs. 

Archil ochus^ was a satirical poet of great reputation among 
the ancients. His birthday was celebrated in one grand festival 
with that of Homer, and a single double-faced statue perpetuated 
their memory. He invented many rhythmical forms, and wrote 
with force and elegance. His satire was so venomous that he is 
said to have driven a whole family to suicide by his pen, used in 

1 Tlie Works and Daj-s was an earnest appeal to Ilcsiod's dissipated brother, 
whom he styles the "simple, foolish, good-tor-naught Perses." It abounds with 
arguments for lionest iudustrj', gives numerous suggestions on the general conduct 
of society, and occasionally dilates on tbo vanity, frivolity, and gossip, which the 
author imputes to womankind. 

2 The story is that, in obedience to an oracle, the Spartans sent to Athens for a 
general who should insure them success. The jealous Athenians ironically answered 
their demand with tlie deformed Tyrtoius. Contrary to their design, the cripple poet 
proved to be just what was needed, and his wise advice and stirring war-hymns 
spun-ed the Spartans on to victory. 

3 One of the greatest of soldier poets, Archilochus proved himself a coward on 
the battle-field, afterward proclaiming the fact in a kind of apologetic bravado, 
thus : _ 

'' J. he foeman glories o'er my shield, 

I left it on the battle-field. 

I threw it down beside the wood. 

Unscathed by scars, unstained with blood. 

And let him glorj-- ; since from death 

Escaped, I keep my forfeit breath. 

I soon may find at little cost 

As good a shield as that I lost." 
When lie afterward visited Sparta, the authorities, taking a dififerent view of shield 
dropping, ordered him to leave the city in an hour. 



164 GREECE. 

revenge for his rejection by one of the daughters. He likened 
himself to a jjorcupine bristling with quills, and declared, 

" One great thing I know. 
The man who wrongs me to requite with woe." 

Sappho, " the Lesbian Nightingale," who sang of love, was put 
by Aristotle in the same rank with Homer and Archilochus. Plato 
called her the tenth muse, and it is asserted that Solon, on hearing 
one of her poems, prayed the gods that he might not die till he had 
found time to learn it by heart. Sappho's style was intense, bril- 
liant, and full of beautiful imagery; her language was said to 
have a " marvelous suavity." She sought to elevate her country- 
women, and drew around her a circle of gifted poetesses whose 
fame spread with hers throughout Greece. 

Alccsus, an unsuccessful lover of Sappho, was a polished, pas- 
sionate lyrist. His political and war poems gained him high 
repute, but, like Archilochus, he dropped his shield in battle and 
ran from danger. His convivial songs were favorites with the clas- 
sic topers. One of his best poems is the famihar one, beginning, 

" What constitutes a state 1 
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 
Thick wall or moated gate." 

Anacreon, a courtier of Hipparchus (p. 123), was a "society 
poet." Himself pleasure-loving and dissipated, his odes were 
devoted to " the muse, good humor, love, and wine." He lived 
to be eighty-five years old, and his memory was perpetuated on 
the Acropolis at Athens by a statue of a drunken old man. 

Simonides was remarkable for his terse epigrams and. choral 
hymns. He was the author of the famous inscription upon the 
pillar at Thermopylae (p. 132), of which Christopher North says, 

" 'Tis but two lines, and all Greece for centuries had them by heart. She forgot 
them, and Greece was living Greece no more." 

Pindar, the " Theban Eagle," came from a long ancestry of poets 
and musicians. His fame began when he was twenty years old, 
and for sixty years he was the glory of his countrymen (p. 151). 
As Homer was the poet, and Sappho the poetess, so Pindar was the 
lyrist, of Greece. Of all his compositions, there remain entire only 
forty-five Triumphal Odes celebrating victories gained at the 
national games. His bold and majestic style abounds in striking 
metaphors, abrupt transitions, and complicated rhythms. 

The Drama. — Rise op Tragedy and Comedy. — In early times 
the wine-god Dionysus (Bacchus) was worshiped with hymns and 



THE CIVILIZATION. 165 

dances around an open altar, a g:oat being the usual sacrifice. i 
During the Bacchic festivities, bands of revelers went about with 
their faces smeared with wine lees, shouting coarse and bantering 
songs to amuse the village-folk. Out of these rites and revels grew 
tragedy (goat-song) and comedy (village-song). The themes of the 
Tragic Chorus were the crimes, woes, and vengeance of the " fate- 
driven " heroes and gods, the murderous deeds being commonly 
enacted behind a curtain, or narrated by messengers. The gi'eat 
Greek poets esteemed fame above everything else, and to write for 
money was considered a degradation of genius. The prizes for 
which they so eagerly contended were simple crowns of wild olives. 

^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the great tragic trio of 
antiquity, belong to the golden Age of Pericles. The first ex- 
celled in the sublime, the second in the beautiful, and the third 
in the pathetic. 2 

^schylus (525-456 b. c.) belonged to a noble family in Eleusis, a 
village near Athens famous for its secret rites of Demeter (p. 184). 
Here, under the shadow of the sacred mysteries, a proud, earnest 
boy, he drank in from childhood a love of the awful and sublime. 
A true soldier poet, he did not, like Archilochus and Alcaeus, vent 
ail his courage in words, but won a prize for his bravery at Marathon, 
and shared in the glory of Salamis. In his old age he was publicly 
accused of sacrilege for having disclosed on the stage some details 

1 Grecian raythology represented Bacchus as a melTJ^ rollicking god, whose 
attendants were fauns and satyrs,— beings half goat and half man. The early Tragic 
Cliorus dressed in goat-skins. Thespis, a strolling player, introduced an actor or 
story-teller between the hj'mns of his satyr-chorus to fill up the pau.ses with a nar- 
rative. JEschylus added a second, and Sophocles a third actor; more than that never 
appeared together on the Athenian stage. Women were not allowed to act. A poet 
contesting for the prize generally offered three plays to be produced the same da3' in 
succession on the stage. This was called a trilogy ; a farce or satyr-drama often 
followed, closing the series. 

2 " Oil, our ^schylus, the thunderous ! 
How he drove the bolted breath 
Tlirough the cloud, to wedge it ponderous 
In the gnarl6d oak beneath. 

" Oh, oar Sophocles, the roj'al, 

\Vho was born to mou arch's place, 

And who made the whole world loj'^al 

Less by kingly power than grace. 

" Our Euripides, the human. 

With his droppings of warm tears, 
And his touclies of things common 
Till they rose to touch the splieres." 

Mrs. Browning, in " Wine 0/ Cyprus.'" 



166 



GREECE 



of the Eleusinian mysteries. Becoming piqued at tlie rising success 
of Sopliocles, who bore a prize away from him, he retired to Syra- 
cuse, where, at the court of Hiero, with Pindar, Simonides, and 
other Uterary friends, he passed his last years, ^schylus wrote 
over seventy tragedies, of which only seven are preserved. 



jEsfhylus 




THR GREAT THAGIC TKIO. 



"Prometheus Bound " is perhaps his finest tragedy. In the old myth, Prometheus 
steals fire from lieaven to give to man. For this crime Zeus sentences him to be 
bound upon Mount Caucasus, where for thirty thousand years an eagle sliould feed 
upon his vitals. Tlie taunts and scoffs of the brutal sheriffs, " Strength " and " Force," 
who drag him to the spot ; the reluctant riveting of his chains and bolts by the sym- 
pathizing Vulcan ; the graceful pity of the ocean-nymphs who come to condole with 
him ; the threats and expostulations of Mercury, who is sent by Zeus to force from 
the fettered god a secret he is withholding ; the unflinching defiance of Prometheus, 
and the final opening of the dreadful abyss into which, amid fearful thunders, light- 
nings, ami " gusts of all fierce winds," the rock and its sturdy prisoner drop suddenly 
and are swallowed up,— all these are portrayed in this drama with a force, majesty, 
and passion which in the whole range of literature is scarcely equaled. 

From Prometheus Bovisv.^(Frometheus to Mercury.) 
" Let the locks of the lightning, all bristling and Avhitening, 
Flash, coiling me round, 
While the ether goes surging 'neath thunder and scourging 

Of wild winds unbound ! 
Let the blast of the firmament wliirl from its place 

The earth rooted below, 
And the brine of the ocean, in rapid emotion. 

Be it driven in the face 
Of the stars ui> in heaven, as they walk to and fro ! 
Let him hurl Tue anon into Tartarus— on— 

To tlie blackest degiee, . . . 
But he cannot join death to a fate meant for me." 

Mrs. Browning's Translation. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 167 

Sophocles (495^06 b. c), the sweetness and purity of whose style 
gained for him the title of the Attic Bee, was only twenty-seven 
years old when he won the prize away from ^schylus, then ap- 
proaching sixty, ^schylus had been a gallant soldier ; Sophocles 
was a polished gentleman. Less grand and impetuous, more 
graceful and artistic, than his gi*eat competitor, he came like sun- 
shine after storm. The tragedies with which the elder poet had 
thrilled the Athenian heart were tinctured with the unearthly 
mysteries of his Eleusinian home ; the polished creations of Sopho- 
cles reflected the gentle charm of his native Colo'nus, — a beautiful 
hill -village i near Athens, containing a sacred grove and temple. 
Sophocles improved the style of the Tragic Chorus, and attired 
his actors in "splendid robes, jeweled chaplets, and embroidered 
girdles." Of him, as of ^schylus, we have only seven tragedies 
remaining, though lie is said to have composed over one hundred. 

"CEdipus the King" was selected by Aristotle as the masterpiece of tragedy. 
(Edipus, so runs the plot, was son of Laius, king of Thebes. An oracle having fore- 
told that he should "slay his father and marry his mother," Jocasta, the queen, 
exposes him to die in the forest. A shepherd rescues him. He groAvs up unconscious 
of his story, and journeys to Thebes. Ou the way he meets an old man, whose chariot 
jostles him. A quarrel ensues, and he slays the gray -haired stranger. Arrived at 
Thebes, he finds the whole city in commotion. A friglitful monster, called the 
Sphinx, has propounded a riddle which no one can solve, and every failure costs a 
life. So terrible is tlie crisis that the hand of the widowed queen is offered to any one 
who will guess the riddle and so save the state. CEdipus guesses it, and weds Jocasta, 
Lis mother. After many years come fearful pestilences, which the oracle declares 
shall continue until the murderer of Laius is found and punished. The unconscious 
CEdipus pushes the search, and is confronted with the revelation of his unhappy 
destiny. Jocasta hangs herself in horror; CEdipus tears a golden buckle from lier 
dress, thrusts its sharj) point into both his eyes, and goes out to roam the earth. 

In "CEdipus at Colonus" the blind old man, attended by his faithful daughter 
Antig'one, has wandered to Colonus, where he sits down to rest within the precincts 
of the sacred grove. The indignant citizens, discovering who the old man is, command 
him to depart from their borders. Meantime war is raging in Thebes between his 
two sons, and an oracle declares that only his bodj' will decide success. Everymeans 
is used to obtain it, but the gods have willed that his sons shall slay each other. 
CEdipus, always "driven by fate," follows tlie Queen of Night, upon whose borders 
he has trespassed. The last moment comes ; a sound of subterranean thunder is 
heard ; Ills daughters, wailing and terrified, cling to him in wild embrace ; a mys- 
terious voice calls from beneath, "CEdipus! King CEdipus! come hither; thou art 
wanted ! " The earth opens, and the old man disappears forever. 

1 Here, two years before the fall of Athens (p. H5), he closed his long, prosperous, 
luxurious life. " We can imagine Sophocles in his old age recounting the historic 
names and scenes with which he had been so fnmiliar; how he had listened to the 
thunder of 'Olympian Pcncles ; ' liow he had been startled by the chorus of Furies in 
the play of .Eschylus ; how lie had talked with the garrulous and open-hearted 
Herodotus; how he liad followed Anaxagoras, the great skeptic, in the cool of the 
day among a throng of his disciples ; how lie liad walked with Phidias and supped with 
Aspasia."— CoWin«. 



168 GREECE. 

The following is from a famous chorus in " (Edipus at Colonus," describing the 
beauties of the poet's home :— 

" Here ever and aye, througli tlie greenest vale, 
Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale. 
From her home where the dark-hued ivy weaves 
With the grove of the god a night of leaves; 
And the vines blossom out from the lonely glade, 
And the suns of the summer are dim in the shade. 
And the storms of the winter hare never a breeze 
That can shiver a leaf from the charmed trees. 



And wandering there forever, the fountains are at play. 

And Cephissus feeds his river from tlieir sweet urns, day by day ; 

The river knows no dearth ; 

Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide, 

And the pure rain of that pelucid tide 

Calls the rife beauty from the heart of earth." 

Biiliver'8 Translation. 

Euripides ^ (480-406 B. c), the " Scenic Philosopher," was born in 
Salamis on the day of the great sea-fight.2 Twenty-five years after- 
ward —the year after ^schyhis died — his first trilogy was put upon 
the stage. Athens had changed in the half-century since the poet 
of Eleusis came before the pubhc. A new element was steadily 
gaining ground. Doubts, reasonings, and disbehef s in the marvel- 
ous stories told of the gods were creeping into society. Schools of 
rhetoric and philosophy were springing up, and already " to use 
discourse of reason*' was accounted more important than to recite 
the Iliad and Odyssey entire. To ^schylus and to most of his 
hearers the Fates and the Fuiies had been di'ead realities, and the 
gods upon Olympus as undoubted personages as Miltiades or The- 
mistocles ; Sophocles, too, serenely accepted all the Homeric deities ; 
but Euripides belonged to the party of '' advanced thinkers," and 

1 Fragments of Antiope, one of the lost plays of Euripides, have recently come to 
light in a curious manner. At Ciurob, in the Egyptian Fayoom, Prof. Petrie thought 
he detected writing on some of the papyrus scraps that were stuck together to form 
tlie papier-mache mummy-cases. Among these fragments, after they had been care- 
fully separated, clean.sed, and deciphered, were found portions of Plato's Phaedo, and 
tliree pages of Antiope. The writing belongs to a period almost contemporary with 
Plato and Euripides themselves. Thus, in some of these Egyptian miimmy-cases, 
made up of old waste paper, may yet be found the very autographs of the great mas- 
ters of Greek literature. " If a bit of Euripides has leaped to light, why not some 
of the lo.st plays of iEschylus and Sophocles, or some songs of Sappho? " (For inter- 
esting account, see Biblia, September, 1891.) 

2 The three great tragic poets of Athens were singularly connected by the battle 
of Salamis. .Eschylus, in the heroic vigor of his life, fought there; Euripides, 
whose parents had fled from Athens on the approach of the Persians, was bom near 
the scene, probably on the battle-day; and Sopliocles, a beautiful boy of fifteen, 
danced to the choral song of Simonides, celeb? nti fig the victory. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 169 

believed no more in the gods of the myths and legends than in the 
prophets and soothsayers of his own time. Discarding the ideal 
heroes and ht'roines of Sophocles, he modeled his characters after 
real men and women, endowing them with human passions and 
alfections.i Of his eighty or ninety plays, seventeen remain. 

" Mede'a" is his most celebrated tragedy. A Colcliiau princess skilled in sorcerj' 
becomes the wife of Jason, the hero of the Golden Fleece. Being afterward thrust 
aside for a new love, she finds her revenge by sending the bride an enchanted robe 
and crown, in whicli she is no sooner clothed than they burst into flame and con 
sunie her. To complete her vengeance, Medea murders lier two young sons,— so deeply 
wronged by tlieir father, so tenderly loved by herself,— and then, after hovering over 
the palace long enough to mock and jcvv at the anguish of the frantic Jason, she is 
whirled away with the dead botlies of her children in a dragon-borne car, the chariot 
ol her graudsire, the sun. 

Fkom 'Mevea.— (Medea to her sons.) 
" Wliy gaze you at me with your eyes, my children ? 
W^hy smile your last sweet smile ? Ah me ! ah me ! 
What shall I do ? My heart dissolves within me. 
Friends, when I see the glad eyes of my sons ! 
Yet whence this weakness ? Do I wish to reap 
The scorn that springs from enemies uxipunished ? 
Die the}' must ; this must be, and since it must, 
I, I myself will slay them, I who bore them. 

O my sons ! 
Give, give your mother your dear hands to kiss. 
O dearest hands, and mouths most dear to me. 
And forms and noble faces of my sons ! 
O tender touch and sweet breath of my boys ! " 

Syinonds's Traiulation. 

Comedy. — When Anstophanes appeared with the first of his 
shai-p satires, Euripides had been for a quarter of a century before 
the public, and the Pelopomiesian war was near at hand. The new 
poet whose genius was so full of mockery and mirth was a rich, 
aristocratic Athenian, the natm-al enemy of the ultra-democratic 
mob-orators of his day, whom he heartily hated and despised. In 
the bold and brilliant satires which now electrified all Athens, 

1 Aristophanes ridiculed his scenic art, denounced his theology, and accused him 
of corrupting society by the falsehood and deceit shown by his characters. The line 
in one of his plaj'S, 

" Though the tongue swore, the heart remained unsworn," 
caused his arrest for seeming to justify perjury. When the people were violent in 
Censure, Euripides would sometimes appear on the stage and beg them to sit the 
play through. On one occasion, when their displeasure was extreme, he tartly ex 
claimed, " Good people, it is my business to teach j-ou, and not to be taught by you." 
Tradition relates that he was torn to pieces by dogs, set up«m him by two lival poets, 
while he was walking in the garden of the Macedonian king, at Pella. The Athenians 
were eager to honor him after his death, and erected a statue in the theater where he 
bad been so often hissed as well as applauded. 



170 GREECE. 

every prominent public man was liable to see his personal pecu- 
liarities paraded on the stage.i The facts and follies of the times 
were pictured so vividly, that when Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syra- 
cuse, wrote to Plato for information as to affah'S in Athens, the 
great philosopher sent for answer a copy of " The Clouds." 

Aristophanes wrote over fifty plays, of which eleven, in part or 
all, remain. 

Of these, "The Frogs" and the "Woman's Festival" were direct satires on Eu- 
ripides. "The Knights" was written, so the author declared, to "cut up Cleon tlie 
Tanner into shoe leather." 2 "The Clouds" ridiculed the new-school philosophers; ^ 
and " The Wasps," the Athenian passion for law-courts. 

From the Clouds.— (-Scene: Socrates, absorbed in thought, swinging in a basket, 
surrounded by his students. Enter Strepsiades, a visitor.) 
Stk. Who hangs dangling in yonder basket? 

STUD. HIMSELF. STU. And who's Himself? Stud. Wliy, Socrates. 
Str. Ho, Socrates! Sweet, darling Socrates ! 
SOC. Why callest thou me, poor creature of a day 1 
STR. First tell me, pray, what are you doing up there 1 
SOC. I walk in aii- and contemplate the sun ! 
STR. Oh, that 's the way that you despise the gods— 
You get so near them on your perch there— eh ] 
SOC. I never co.uld have found out things divine. 
Had I not hung my mind up thus, and mixed 
My subtle intellect with its kindred air. 
Had I regarded such things from below, 
I had learnt nothing. For the earth absorbs 
Into itself the moisture of the brain. 
It is the same with water-cresses. 
STR. Dear me ! So water-cresses grow by thinking ! 

The so-called Old Comechj, in which individuals were satirized, 
died with Aristophanes; and to it succeeded the New Comedy, por- 
traying general types of human nature, and dealing with domes- 
tic life and manners. 

Menandm- {M2r-2Ql B.C.), founder of this new school, was a 

1 Even the deities were burlesqued, and the devout Athenians, who denounced 
Euripides for venturing to doubt the gods and goddesses, were wild in applause when 
Aristophanes dragged them out as absurd cowards, or blustering braggarts, or as 

" Baking peck-loaves and frying stacks of pancakes." 

2 The masks of the actors in Greek comedy were made to caricature the features 
of tlie persons represented. Cleon was at this time so powerful that no artist dared 
to make a mask for his character in the play, nor could any man be found bold 
enough to act the part. Aristophanes, therefore, took it himself, smearing his face 
with wine lees, which he declared " well represented the purple and bloated visage of 
the demagogue." 

3 It is said that Socrates, who was burlesqued in this play, was present at its per- 
formance, wliich he heartily enjoyed ; and that he even mounted on a bench, that every 
one might see the admirable resemblance between himself and his counterfeit upon 
the stage. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



171 



warm friend of Epicurus (p. 177), whose philosophy he adopted. 
He admired, as heartily as Aristophanes had disliked, Euripides, 
and his style was manifestly influenced by that of the tragic poet. 
He excelled in delineation of character, and made his dramatic 
personages so real, that a century afterward it was written of him, 

" O Life, aud O ISIenander ! Speak and say 
Which copied whicli ? Or Nature, or the play 1 " 

Of his works onlj-- snatches remain, many of which were houseliohl proverbs 
among tlie Greeks aud Romans. Such were: " He is well cleansed that liath his con- 
science clean," "The workman is greater than his work," and the memorable one 
quoted by St. Paul, " Evil communications corrupt good manners." 



Mkf0 




THE GREAT IIISTOIUANS OK GREECE. 



History. — Here is another illustrious trio: Herodotus (484-420), 
Thucydides (471-400), and Xenophon (about 445-355). Herodotus, 
*' Father of History," we recall as an old friend met in Egyptian 
study (p. 15). Having rank, wealth, and a passion for travel, he 
roamed over Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylon, Judea, and Persia, study- 
ing their history, geography, and national customs. In Athens^ 
where he spent several years, he was the intimate friend of Sopho- 
cles. His history was di\dded into nine books, named after the nine 
Muses.i The principal subject is the Greek and Persian war ; but, 
by way of episode, sketches of various nations are introduced. 
His style is artless, graphic, flowing, rich in description, and inter- 



1 Lconidas of Tarentum, a favorite writer of epigrams, who lived two hundred 
years after H^-rodotus, thus accounted for their names: — 

" The Muses nine came one daj' to Herodotus and dined. 
And in return, their host to pa^', left each a book behind." 



172 GREECE. 

spersed with dialogue. He has been described as having " the head 
of a sage, the heart of a mother, and the simpHcity of a child." 

Thuci/dides is said to have been won to his vocation by hearing 
the history of Herodotus read at Olympia, which charmed him to 
tears. Rich, noble, and educated, he was in the prime of his man- 
hood, when, at tlie opening of the Peloponnesian war, he received 
command of a squadron. Having failed to arrive with his ships 
in time to save a certain town from surrender, Cleon caused his 
disgrace, and he went into exile to escape a death penalty. Dur- 
ing the next twenty years he prepared his "History of the Pelo- 
ponnesian war." His style is terse, noble, and spirited ; as an 
historian he is accm*ate, philosophic, and impartial. "His book," 
says Macaulay, "is that of a man and a statesman, and in this 
respect presents a remarkable contrast to the delightful childish- 
ness of Herodotus." 

XenopJioii's historical fame rests mostly on his Anabasis, ^ which 
relates the expedition of Cyi'us and the Retreat of the Ten Thou- 
sand. He was one of the generals who conducted this memorable 
retreat, in wliich he displayed great fii'mness, coui*age, and military 
skill. A few years later the Athenians formed their alhance with 
Persia ; and Xenophon, who still held command under his friend and 
patron, the Spartan king Agesilaus, was brought into the position 
of an enemy to his state. Having been banished from Athens, 
his Spartan friends gave him a beautiful country residence near 
Olympia, where he spent the best years of his long hfe. Next to 
the Anabasis ranks his Memorabilia (memoirs) of Socrates,^ his 
fi'iend and teacher. Xenophon was said by the ancients to be "the 
iu'st man that ever took notes of conversation." The Memo- 
rabilia is a collection of these notes, in which the character and 
doctrines of Socrates are discussed. Xenophon was the author 
of fifteen works, all of which are extant. His style, simple, clear, 
racy, refined, and noted for colloquial vigor, is considered the 
model of classical Greek prose. 

Oratory. — Eloquence was studied in Greece as an art. Pericles, 

1 This word means the "march up," viz., from the sea to Babylon. A more ap- 
propriate name would he Katahasis (march down), as most of the hook is occupied 
with the details of the return journey. 

2 There is a story that Xenophon, when a hoy, once met Socrates in a lane. 
The philosopher, harriiifr the way with his cane, demanded, " Where is food 
sold?" Xenophon having replied, Socrates asked, "And where are men made 
good and noble?" The lad hesitated, whereupon Socrates answered himself by 
saying, " Follow me, and learn." Xenophon obeyed, and was henceforth his devoted 
disciple. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



173 




DEM0STHENK8. 



though he spoke only upon great occasions, Isoc'rates, and ^s'- 
chiues were all famed for powers of address, but 

Demosthenes (385-322 B. c.) 
was the unrivaled orator of 
Greece, if not of the world. 
An awkward, sickly, stam- 
mering boy, by liis deter- 
mined energy and persever- 
ance he '' placed himself at 
the head of all the mighty 
masters of speech — unap- 
proachable forever" {Lord 
Brougham). His first address 
before the public assembly was 
hissed and derided; but he 
was resolved to be an orator, 
and nothing daunted him. He 
used every means to overcome 

his natural defects, i and at last was rewarded by the palm of 
eloquence. He did not aim at display, but made every sentence 
subservient to his argument. '' We never think of his words," 
said Fenelon ; 'Sve think only of the things he says." His oration 
"Upon the Crown "2 is his masterpiece. 

Philosophy and Science. — The Seven Sages (Appendix), 
Cleobu'lus, Chile, Perian'der, Pit'tacus, Solon, Bias, and Tha'les, 
lived about 600 B. c.^ They were celebrated for their moral, 
social, and political wisdom. 

1 That he might study without liindrauce, ho .shut himself up for months in a 
room under {ground, aud, it is said, copied the History of Thucydides eight times, that 
lie might bo infused with its concentrated thought and energy. Out on the seashore, 
with his mouth filled with pebbles, he exercised his voice until it sounded full and 
clear above the tumult of the waves; while in the privacj' of his own room, before 
a full-length mirror, he disciplined his awkward gestures till he had schooled them 
into giace aud aptness. 

2 It had been proposed that his public services should be rewarded by a golden 
crown, the custom being for an orator to wear a crown in token of his inviolability 
while speaking. yE.schines, a fellow-orator, whom ho hud accused of favoring Philip, 
opposed the measure. The discussion lasted six years. When the two finally appeared 
•before a va^t and excited assembly for the closing argument, the impetuous eloquence 
of Demostlienes swept everything before it. In after years, though his whole life had 
proved him a zealous patriot, he was charged with having received bribes from 
Macedon. Exiled, and under sentence of death, he poisoned himself. 

3 About this time lived ^sop, who, though born a slave, gained liis fieedom and 
the friendship of kings and wise men by his peculiar wit. His fables, long preserved 
by oral tradition, were the delight of the Athenians, who read in them many a pithy 



174 GREECE. 

Thales founded a school of thinkers. He taught that all things 
were generated from water, into which they would all be ulti- 
mately resolved. 

During the two following centuries many philosophers 
arose : — 

Anaximan'der, the scientist, invented a sun-dial, — an instrument 
which had long been used in Egypt and Babylonia, — and wrote a 
geographical treatise, enriched with the first known map. 

Anaxag'oras discovered the cause of eclipses, and the difference 
between the planets and fixed stars. He did not, like his prede- 
cessors, regard fire, air, or water as the origin of all things, but 
believed in a Supreme Intellect. He was accused of atheism,! 
tried, and condemned to death, but his friend Pericles succeeded 
in changing the sentence to exile. Contemporary with him was 

Hippoc'rates, the father of physicians, who came from a family of 
priests devoted to ^sculapius, the god of medicine. He wrote 
many works on physiology, and referred diseases to natural causes, 
and not, as was the popular belief, to the displeasure of the gods. 

Pytliag'oras, the greatest of early philosophers, was the first to 
assert the movement of the earth in the heavens ; he also made 
some important discoveries in geology and mathematics. At his 
school in Crotona, Italy, his disciples were initiated with secret 
rites ; one of the tests of fitness being the power to keep silence 
under every circumstance. He based all creation upon the numer- 
ical rules of harmony, and asserted that the heavenly spheres roll 
in musical rhythm. Teaching the Egyptian doctrine of transmi- 
gration, he professed to remember what had happened to himself 
in a previous existence when he was a Trojan hero. His fol- 
lowers reverenced him as half divine, and their unquestioning 
faith passed into the proverb. Ipse dixit (He has said it). 

Soc' rates (470-399 B. c). — During the entire thirty years of the 
Peloponnesian war a grotesque-featured, ungainly, shabbily 
dressed, barefooted man might have been seen wandering the 
streets of Athens, in all weathers and at all hours, in the crowded 
market place, among the workshops, wherever men were gathered, 
incessantly asking and answering questions. This was Socrates, 

public lesson. His statue, the work of Lysippus (p. 183), was placed opposite to those 
of the Seven Sages in Athens. Socrates greatly admired ^sop's Fables, and during 
l)is last days in prison amused liimself hy versifying them. 

1 The Greeks wei'e especially angry because Auaxagoras taught that the sun is 
not a god. It is a curious fact that they condemned to death as an atheist the first 
man among them who advanced the idea of One Supreme Deity. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 175 

a self -taught philosopher, who believed that he had a special mis- 
siou from the gods, and was attended by a '^ divine voice " which 
counseled and directed him. The questions he discussed pertained 
to hfe and morality, and were especially pointed against Sophists, 
who were the skeptics and quibblers of the day.i His earnest elo- 
quence attracted all classes,'^ and among his friends were Alci- 
biades, Euripides, and Aristophanes. A man who, by his irony 
and argument, was continually " driving men to their wits' end," 
naturally made enemies. One morning there appeared in the 
portico where such notices were usually displayed the following 
indictment : " Socrates is guilty of crime ; first, for not worshiping 
the gods whom the city worships, but introducing new divinities 
of his own ; secondly, for corrupting the youth. The penalty due 
is death." Having been tried and convicted, he was sentenced to 
drink a cup of the poison-hemlock, which he took in his prison 
chamber, surrounded by friends, with whom he cheerfully con- 
versed till the last. Socrates taught the unity of God, the immor- 
tality of the soul, the beauty and necessity of virtue, and the moral 
responsibility of man. He was a devout believer in oracles, which 
he often consulted. He left no writings, but his philosophy has 
been preserved by his faithful followers, Xenophon and Plato. 

The Four Great Schools of Philosophy (-ith century B.C.). — 
1. The Academic school was founded by that devoted disciple 
of Socrates, Plato (429-347), who delivered his lectures in the 
Academic Gardens. Plato ^ is perhaps best known from his argu- 

1 Their belief that "what I iliiuk is true is true; what seems right is right," 
colored state policy and individual action in the Peloponnesiau wai-, and was respon- 
sible for much of its cruelty and baseness. The skeptic Pyrrho used to sa}' : " It may 
be so, perhaps ; I assert nothing, not even that I assert." Socrates taught his pupils 
by a series of logical questions which stimulated thought, cleared i»erception, and 
created in the learner a real hunger for knowledge. The " Socratic Method" of teach- 
ing is still in use. When addressed to braggarts and pretenders, the apparently 
innocent "Questions" of Socrates were a terror and a confusion. 

2 " Gradually the crowd gathered round him. At first he spoke of the tanners, and 
the smiths, and the drovers, wlio were plying their trades about him ; and they shouted 
Willi laughter as he poured forth his homely jokes. But soon the magic charm of his 
voice made itself felt. The peculiar sweetness of its tone had an effect which even 
the thunder of Pericles failed to produce. The laughter ceased— the crowd thick- 
ened—the gay youth, whom nothing else could tame, stood transfixed an(^ awe- 
struck . . . —the head swam— the heart leaped at the sound— tears rushed from 
their eyes, and they felt that, unless they tore themselves awaj' from that fascinated 
circle, they should sit down at his feet and grow old in listening to the marvelous 
music of this second Marsyas." 

3 The Greeks had no family or clan names, a single appellation serving for an 
individual. To save confusion the father's name was frequently added. Attic wit 

B. G. H.— 11. 



176 GREECE. 

ments in regard to the immortality of the soul. He believed in one 
eternal God, without whose aid no man can attain wisdom or vir- 
tue, and in a previous as well as a future existence. All earthly- 
knowledge, he averred, is but the recollection of ideas gained by 
the soul in its former disembodied state, and as the body is only 
a hindrance to perfect communion with the " eternal essences," 
it follows that death is to be desired rather than feared. His 
works are written in dialogue, Socrates being represented as the 
principal speaker. The abstruse topics of which he treats are en- 
livened by wit, fancy, humor, and picturesque illustration. His 
style was considered so perfect that an ancient writer exclaimed, 
" If Jupiter had spoken Greek, he would have spoken it hke 
Plato." The fashionables of Athens thronged to the Academic 
Gardens to hsten to *' the sweet speech of the master, melodious as 
the song of the cicadas in the trees above his head." Even the 
Athenian women — shut out by custom from the intellectual 
groves — shared in the universal eagerness, and, disguised in male 
attire, stole in to hear the famous Plato. 

2. The Peripatetic school was founded by Aristotle (384-322), 
who delivered his lectures while walking up and down the shady 
porches of the Lyceum, surrounded by his pupils (hence called 
Peripatetics, ivalkers). An enthusiastic student under Plato, he 
remained at the academy until his master's death. A few years 
afterward he accepted the invitation of Philip of Macedon to be- 
come instructor to the young Alexander. Returning to Athens in 
335 B. c, he brought the magnificent scientific collections given him 
by his royal patron, and opened his school in the Lyceum Gym- 
nasium. Suspected of partisanship with Macedon, and accused of 
impiety, to avoid the fate of Socrates he fled to Euboea, where he 
died. Aristotle, more than any other philosopher, originated ideas 
whose influence is still felt. The ^^ Father of Logic," the princi- 
ples he laid down in this study have never been superseded. His 
books include works on metaphysics, psychology, zoology, ethics, 
politics, and rhetoric. His style is intricate and abstruse. He 
differed much from Plato, and, though he recognized an inflnite, 
immaterial God, doubted the existence of a future life. 

suppliod abundaut nicknames, suggested by some personal peculiarities or cir- 
cumstance. Thus this philosopher, whose real name was Aris'tocles, was called 
Plato because of his broad brow. He was descended on his father's side from 
Codrus, the last hero-king of Attica, and on his niotlier's from Solon; but his ad- 
mirers made him a son of the god Apollo, and told how in his infancy the bees had 
settled on his lips as a prophecy of the honeyed words which were to fall from them. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 177 

3. The Epicure'ans were the followers of Epicurus (340-270), 
who tiiught tliat the chief end of life is enjoyment. Himself strict- 
ly moral, he lauded virtue as a road to happiness, but his fol- 
lowers so perverted this that '^Epicurean" became a synonym for 
loose and luxurious living. — The Cynics {kunikos, dog-like) went 
to the other extreme, and, despising pleasure, gloried in pain and 
privation. They scoffed at social courtesies and family ties. The 
sect was founded by Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, but its 
chief exponent was Diogenes, who, it is said, ate and slept in a tub 
which he carried about on his head.i 

4. The Stoics were headed by Zeno (355-260), and took their 
name from the painted portico {stoa) under which he taught. Pain 
and pleasure were equally despised by them, and indifference to all 
external conditions was considered the highest virtue. For his 
example of integrity, Zeno was decreed a golden chaplet and a 
public tomb in the Ceramicus. 

Grecian philosophy culminated in Neo-Platonism, a mixture of 
Paganism, mysticism, and Hebrew ethics, which exalted revela- 
tions and miracles, and gave to reason a subordinate place. In 
Alexandria it had a fierce struggle with Christianity, and died 
with its last gi'eat teacher, the beautiful and gifted Hypatia, who 
was killed by a mob. 

Later Greek Writers.— Plutarch (50-120 a.d.) was the great- 
est of ancient biographers. His '^ Parallel Lives of Greeks and 
Romans" still dehghts hosts of readers by its admirable portrait- 
ure of celebrated men. Lucian (120-200 a.d.), in witty dialogues, 
ridiculed the absurdities of Greek mythology and the foUies of 
false philosophers. His ''Sale of the Philosophers" humorously 
pictures the founders of the different schools as auctioned off by 
Mercury. 

Libraries and Writing Materials. — Few collections of books 
were made before the Peloponnesian war, but in later times it be- 
came fashionable to have private libraries,^ and after the days of 

1 He was noted for his caustic -wit and rude manners. Tradition says that Alex- 
ander the Great once visited him as he was seated in liis tub, basking in the sun. " I 
am Alexander," .''aid the monarch, a.stonished at the iudifforence witli which he was 
received. "And I am Diogenes," returned the cynic. " Have you no favor to ask of 
mef" inquired the king. " Yes," growled Diogenes, " to get out of my sunlight." He 
was vain of his disregard for social decencies. At a sumptuous banquet given by 
Plato he entered uninvited, and, rubbing his soiled feet on the rich carpets, cried out, 
"Thus T trample (tn your pride, O Plato!" The polite host, who knew his visitor's 
weakness, aptly retorted, " But with still greater pride, O Diogenes ! " 

2 Aristotle had an immense library, which was sold after his death. Large 



178 



GREECE. 



the tragic poets Athens not only abounded in book-stalls, but a 
place in the Agora was formally assigned to book-auctioneering. 
Manuscript copies were rapidly multiplied by means of slave 
labor, and became a regular article of export to the colonies. 
The Egyptian papyrus, and afterward the fine but expensive 
parchment, were used in copying books; the papyrus was writ- 
ten on only one side, the parchment on both sides. ^ 

The reed pen was used as in Egypt, 
and double inkstands for black and 
red ink were invented, having a ring- 
by which to fasten them to the girdle 
of the writer. Waxed tablets were 
employed for letters, note-books, and 
other requirements of daily life. These 
were written upon with a metal or 
ivory pencil (sti/lus), pointed at one 
end and broadly flattened at the 
other, so that in case of mistake the 
writing could be smoothed out and 
the tablet made as good as new. A 
large burnisher was sometimes used 
for the latter purpose. Several tab- 
lets joined together formed a book. 

Education. — A Greek father held the lives of his young children 
at his will, and the casting-out of infants to the chances of fate 
was authorized by law throughout Greece, except at Thebes. Girls 
were especially subject to this unnatural treatment. If a child 
were rescued, it became the property of its finder. 

The A thenian Boy of good family was sent to school when seven 
years old, the school-hours being from sunrise to sunset. Until he 
was sixteen he was attended in his walks by a pedagogue, — usually 




A GREEK TABLET. 



collections of books have beeu fomid in the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 
Some of these volumes, although nearly reduceil to coal, have by great care been 
unrolled, and have been published. 

1 The width of the manuscript (varying from six to fourteen inches) formed the 
length of the page, the size of the roll depending upon the number of pages in a 
book. When finished, the roll was coiled around a stick, and a ticket containing the 
title was appended to it. Documents were scaled by tying a string aiound them and 
affixing to the knot a bit of clay or wax, which was afterward stamped with a seal. 
In libraries the books were arranged in pigeon-holes or on shelves with the ends cut- 
ward ; sometimes several scrolls were put together in a cylindrical box with a cover. 
The reader unrolled the scioll as lie advanced, rolling up the completed pages with 
his other hand (see illustration, p. 279). 



THE CIVILIZATION, 



179 



some trusty, intelligent slave, too old for hard work, — who 
never entered the study room, no visitors, except near relatives 
of the master, being allowed therein on penalty of death. The boy 
was first taught grammar, arithmetic, and writing. His chief books 
were Hesiod and Homer, which he committed to memory. The 
moral lessons they contained were made prominent, for, says Plato, 
" Greek parents are more careful about the manner 
and habits of the youth than about his letters and 
music." Discipline was enforced with the rod. All 
the great lyric poems were set to music, which was 
universally taught. " Rhythms and harmonies," 
again says Plato, "are made famihar to the souls 
of the young, that they may become more gentle, 
and better men in speech and action." Symmet- 
rical muscular development was considered so im- 
portant that the young Athenian between sixteen 
and eighteen years of age spent most of his time 
in gymnastic exercises. During this period of pro- 
bation the youth's behavior was carefully noted by 
his elders. At eighteen he was ceremoniously 
enrolled in the list of citizens. Two years were 
now given to pubhc service, after which he was 
free to follow his own inclinations. If he were 
scholarly disposed, and had money and leisure, i 
he might spend his whole life in learning. 

The little an Athenian girl was required to know was learned 
from her mother and nurses at home. 

The Spartan Lad of seven years was placed under the control of 
the state. Henceforth he ate his coarse hard bread and black broth 
at the public table, 2 and slept in the public dormitory. Here he 




A GRECIAN YOUTH. 



1 Our word " school" is derived from the Greek word for leisure. The education 
of the Greeks was obtained not so mucli from books as from tlie philosopliical lec- 
tures, the public assembly, the theater, aud the law courts, wliere much of their time 
was spent (p. 159). 

2 Tlie public mess was so compulsor}', that when, on his return from vanquishing 
tlie Atlieuians, King Agis ventured to send for his commons, that he might take his 
first meal at home with his wife, he was refused. The princijial dish at the mess- 
table was a black brotli, made from a traditional recipe. WMne mixed with water 
was drunk, but toasts were never given, for the Spartans thought it a sin to use 
two words when one would do. Intoxication and the S3'mposium (p. 199) were 
forbidden by law. Fat men were regaided with suspicion. Small boys sat on low 
stools near their fathers at meals, and were given half rations, which they ate in 
silence. 



180 



GREECE 



was taught to disdain all home affections as a weakness, and to 
think of himself as belonging only to Sparta. He was brought up 
to despise not only softness and luxury, but hunger, thirst, torture, 
and death. Always kept on small rations of food, he was some- 
times allowed only what he could steal. If he escaped detection, 
his adi'oitness was applauded; if he were caught in the act, he 
was severely flogged; but though he were whipped to death, he 
must neither wince nor groan.i 




EAST ENU UF TUli rAKTllENON (AS KESTOKEU bV FEUGUtSON). 

Monuments and Art.-The three styles of Grecian architecture 
-Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian-are distinguished by the shape of 
their columns (see cut, p. 182). w Am . +v.a 

The Doric was originally borrowed from Egypt (p. 40), the 
Parthenon at Athens, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia were 
among its most celebrated examples. The Parthenon or House 
of the Maiden, situated on the Acropolis, was sacred to Pallas 

desperate fox reached bis heart, and he dropped dead-but a beio . 



THE CIVILIZATION. 181 

Athena, the patron goddess of Attica. It was built throughout 
of fine marble from the quarry of Mount l*entelicus, near Athens, 
its glistening whiteness being here and there subdued by colors 
and gilding. The magnificent sculptures ^ which adorned it were 
designed by Phidias,— that inimitable artist whom Pliny desig- 
nates as '^ before all, Phidias, the Athenian." The statue of the 
vii'gin goddess, within the temple, was forty feet high ; her 
face, neck, arms, hands, and feet were ivory; her drapery was 
pure gold.2 The temple at Olympia was built of porous stone, 
the roof being tiled with Pentelic marble. It stood on the banks 
of the Alpheus, in a sacred grove (Altis) of plane and olive trees. 
Not io have seen the Olympian statue of Zeus, by Phidias, was 
considered a calamity. '^ 

The most celebrated loyiic temple was that of Artemis (Diana) 
at Ephesus, which was three times destroyed by fii'e, and as often 
rebuilt with increased magnificence. 

Corinthian architecture was not generally used in Greece before 
the age of Alexander the Great. * The most beautiful example is 
the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (pp. 188, 194), in Athens. 

1 These sculptures, illustrating events in the mythical life of the goddess, are 
among the finest in existence. Some of them were sent to England by Lord Elgin 
when he was Britisli ambassador to Turkey, and are now in the British Museum, 
where, with various other sculptures from the Athenian Acropolis, all more or less 
mutilated, they are known as the Elgin Marbles. 

2 Tlie Greeks accused Phidias of liaving purloined some of the gold provided him 
for this purpose; but as, by the advice of his shrewd friend Pericles, he had so at- 
tached the metal that it could be removed, he was able to disprove tlie charge. He 
was afterward accused of impiety for having placed the portraits of Pericles and him- 
self in the group upon Athena's shield. He died in prison. 

3 Tlie statue, sixty feet high, was seated on an elaborately sculptured throne of 
cedar, inlaid with gold, ivory, ebony, and precious stones ; like the statue of Athena 
in the Parthenon, the face, feet, and body were of ivory; the eyes were brilliant 
Jewels, and the hair and beard pure gold. Tlie drapery was beaten gold, enameled 
with tlowers. One hand grasped a scepter composed of precious metals, and sur- 
mounted by an eagle; in the other, like Athena, he held a golden statue of Nike (the 
winged goddess of victory). The statue was so high in proportion to the building, 
that tlie Greeks used to say, " If the god shouhl rise, he would burst open the roof." 
The effect of its size, as Phidias had calculated, was to impress the beliolder with 
the pent-up majestj-- of the greatest of gods. A copy (tf the head of this statue is 
in the Vatican. Tlie statue itself, removed by Tlieodosius I. to Constantinople, was 
lost in the disastrous th-e (A. D. -IT.j) which destroyed the Library in tliat city. At 
the same time perished tlie Venus of C'liidus, by Praxiteles (p. 183), which the an- 
cients ranked next to the Pliidiau Zeus and Athena. 

•* Tlie invention of the Corinthian capital is ascribed to Callimachus, who, seeing 
a small basket covered with a tile placed in the center of an acanthus plant which 
grew on the grave of a young lady of Corinth, was so struck witli its beauty that he 
executed a capital in imitation of it.— Wrftfropp's Handbook o/ Architecture. 



182 



GREECE. 



The Propyla?a, or entrance to the Athenian Acropolis, was a 
magnificent structure, which opened upon a group of temples, 
altars, and statues of surpassing beauty. All the splendor of 
Grecian art was concentrated on the state edifices, private archi- 
tectural display being forbidden by law. After the Macedonian 
conquest, dwellings grew luxurious, and Demosthenes rebukes 
certain citizens for living in houses finer than the public buildings. 




Coiiiithian. 



THREE ORDERS OK GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



(1, shaft; 2, capital; 3, architrave; 4, frieze; 5, cornice. TTie entire part above the 
capital is the entablature. At the bottom of tJce shaft is the base, tohich rests npvn 
the pedestal.) 

The Athenian Agora (market place), the fashionable morning 
resort, was surrounded with porticoes, one of which was decorated 
with paintings of glorious Grecian achievements. Within the 
inclosure were grouped temples, altars, and statues. 

Not one ancient Greek edifice remains in a perfect state. 

Paintings were usually on wood j wall-j)ainting was a separate 
and inferior art. The most noted painters were Apollodorus of 
Athens, sometimes called the Greek Rembrandt ; Zeiixis and Par- 
rhasius, who contended for the prize— Parrhasius producing a 
picture representing a curtain, which liis rival himself mistook for 
a real hanging, and Zeuxis offering a picture of grapes, which de- 
ceived even the birds ; Apelles, the most renowned of all Greek 
artists, who painted with four colors, blended with a varnish 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 183 

of his own invention ; his friend Protogenes, the careful painter, 
sculptor, and writer on art; Niciaft, who, liaving refused a sum 
equal to seventy thousand dollars from Ptolemy I. for his master- 
piece, bequeathed it to Athens; and Pausias, who excelled in 
wall-painting, and in delineating children, animals, flowers, and 
arabesques. The Greeks tinted the background and bas-reliefs 
of their sculptures, and even painted their inimitable statues, 
gilding the hair, and inserting glass or silver eyes. 

In marble and bronze statuary, and in graceful vase-jjainting, 
the Greeks have never been surpassed. All the arts and orna- 
mentation which we have seen in use among the previous nations 
were greatly improved upon by the Greeks, who added to other 
excellences an exquisite sense of beauty and a power of ideal ex- 
pression peculiar to themselves. Besides Piddias, whose statues 
were distinguished for grandeur and sublimity, eminent among 
sculptors were Praxiteles, who excelled in tender grace and finish ; 
Scopas, who delighted in marble allegory ; and Lysippiis, a worker 
in bronze, and the master of portraiture. ^ 

3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Religion and Mythology.— Nothing marks more strongly the 
poetic iuiagiiiatioii of the Greeks than the character of their rehgious 
worship. They learned their creed in a poem, and told it in marble 
scnlpture. To them nature overflowed with deities. Every grove 
had its presiding genius, every stream and fountain its protecting 
nymph. Earth and air were filled with invisible spirits, and the sky 
was crowded with translated heroes,— their own half-divine ancestors. 
Their gods were intense personalities, endowed with Inuiiau passions 
and instincts, and bound by domestic relations. Sncli deities ai)pealed 
to the hearts of their worshipers, and the Greeks loved their favorite 
gods with the same fervor bestowed upon tlieir earthly friends. On the 
summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly, beyond impenetrable mists, 
according to their mythology, the twelve 2 great gods lield council. 

1 Tlie luasterpieces of Praxiteles were an nudraped Venus sold to tlie people 
of Ciiulus, and a satjT or faun, of which the best antique cop3' is preserved m the 
Capitoliiie Miiseuni, Rome. Tliis statue suggested Hawthorne's chainiing romance, 
Tlie Maible Kaiin. The celebrated Niobe (Jroiip in the Uflizi Gallery, Florence, is the 
work of either Praxiteles or Scojjas. The latter was one of the artists employed on 
the Mausolemn at llalicarnassus (Appendix). Lysippus and A pelles were favorites 
of Alexander the Great, who would allow only them to carve or paint his image. 

2 They were called the Twelve Gods, but the lists vary, increasing the actual 
number. Roman mythology was founded on Greek, and, as the Latin names are now 
in general use, they have been interpolated to assist the pupil's association. 



184 GREECE. 

Zeus (Jove or Jnpiter) was supreme. He ruled with the thunderbolts, and was 
king over gods and men. His symbols were the eagle and the lightning, both asso- 
ciated witli great height. His two brothers, 

Poseidon (Neptuue) and Hades (Pluto) held sway respectively over tlie sea and the 
deptlis under ground. As god of the sea, Poseidon had tlie dolphin for his sj'uibol ; 
as god over rivers, lakes, and springs, his symbols were the trident and the horse. 
Hades had a helmet which conferred invisibility upon the wearer. It was in much 
demand among the gods, and was his symbol. The shades of Hades, wherein the 
dead were received, were guarded by a three-headed dog, Cerberus. 

Hera (Juno), the haughty wife of Zeus, was Queen of the Skies. Her jealousy 
was tlio source of much discord in celestial circles. The stars were her ej'es. Her 
symbols were the cuckoo and the peacock. 

Denieter (Ceres) was the bestower of bountiful harvests. Her worship was con- 
nected with the peculiarly sacred Eleusinian mysteries, whose secret rites have never 
been di.sclosed. Some tliink that ideas of the unity of God and the immortality of 
the soul were kept alive and handed down by them. Demeter's symbols were ears 
of corn, tlie pomegranate, and a car drawn bj^ winged serpents. 

Hestia (Vesta) was goddess of the domestic hearth. At her altar in every house 
were celebrated all important family events, even to the purchase of a new slave, 
or the undertaking of a short journey. The famil}^ slaves joined in this domestic 
worship, and Hestia's altar was an asylum whither tliey might flee to escape punish- 
ment, aud where the stranger, even an enemy, could find protection. She was the 
personification of purity, and her symbol was an altar-flame. 

Hephcestns (Vulcan) was the god of volcanic fires and skilled metal- work. Being 
lame and deformed, liis parents, Zeus and Hera, threw him out of 01ymi)us, but his 
genius finally brouglit about a reconciliation. Mount Etna was his forge, wlience 
Prometheus stole tlie sacred fire to give to man. His brotlier, 

Ares (Mars) was god of war. His symbols were the dog aud tlie vulture. 

Athena (Minerva) sprang full-armed from the imperial head of Zeus. She was the 
goddess of wisdom and of celestial wars, and the especial defender of citadels. 
Athena and Poseidon contested on the Athenian Acropolis for the supremacy over 
Attica. The one who gave the greatest boon to man was to win. Poseidon with his 
trident brouglit foith a spring of water from the barren rock ; but Athena produced 
an olive-tree, and was declared victor. As a war-goddess she was called Pallas 
Athene. Her s.vmbol Avas the owl. 

Aphrodite (Venus) was goddess of love and beauty. She arose from the foam of 
the sea. In a contest of personal beauty between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, 
Paris decided for Aphrodite. She is often represented with a golden apple in her 
hand, the prize offered by Eris (strife), who originated the dispute. Her symbol was 
the dove. 

Apollon (Apollo), the ideal of manly beauty, was the god of poetry and song. Ho 
led the Muses, and In this character his symbol Avas a lyre ; as god of the fierce rays 
of the sun, which was his chariot, his symbol was a bow with ariows. 

Artemis (Diana), twin-sister to Apollo, was goddess of the chase, and protector 
of the water-nymphs. All young girls were under her care. The moon was her 
chariot, and her symbol was a deer, or a bow with arrows. 

Hermes (Mercury) was the god of cunning and eloquence. In tlie former capacity 
he was associated with mists, and accused of thieving. The winged-footed messen- 
ger of the gods, he was also the guide of souls to the realms of Hades, and of lieroes 
in difficult expeditions. As god of persuasive speech and success in trade he was 
popular in Athens, where he was worshiped at the street-crossings. i His symbol 
was a cock or a ram. 



1 The "Hermes" placed at street-corners was a stone jiillar, surmounted by a 
human head (p. 143). 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



185 



Dionysus (Bapclius), god of wiiio, witli lii8 wife Ariadiif, ruled the fruit season. 

Jlebe was a cup-beaier iu Olj'iiipn.s. 

There was a host of luiuor deities and personifications, often appearing in a 
group of three, sucli as the Three (J races,— beautiful women, who represented the 
brightness, color, and perfume of summer; the Three Fates,— stern sisters, upon 
whose spindle was spun the thread of every human life; the Three Uesperides, — 
daughters of Atlas (upon whose shoulders the sky rested), in whose western garden 
golden apples grew ; the Three Harpies,— mischievous meddlers, who jiersonated the 
effects of violent winds; Three Gorgons, -whose terrible faces turned to stone all who 
beheld them : and Three Furies, whose mission was to pursue criminals. 

There were nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), who dwelt 
on Mount Parnassus, and held all gifts of inspiration: Clio presided over histoiy; 
Melpomene, tragedy ; Thalia, comedy ; Calliope, epic poetry; Urania, astronomy ; 
Euterpe, music ; Polyhymnia, song and oratory; Erato, love-songs; and Terpsichore, 
dancing. 








FKESENTl.NG OFFERINGS AT I ilE TEMl'LE OF DELFHl. 



Divination of all kinds was universal. Upon signs, dreams, and 
portents depended all the weighty decisions of life. Birds, especially 
crows and ravens, were watched as direct messengers from the gods, 
and so much meaning was attached to their voices, habits, manner of 
flight, and mode of alighting, that even in Homer's time the word ''bird" 
was synonymous with ''omen." The omens obtained by sacrifices were 
still more anxiously regarded. Upon the motions of the flame, the 
appearance of the ashes, and, above all, the shape and aspect of the 
victim's liver, hung such momentous human interests, that, as at 
Plataea, a great army was sometimes kept waiting for days till success 
should be assured through a sacrificial calf or chicken. 

Oracles. — The temples of Zvus at Ihxhnui (Epirus), and of Apollo at 
Delphi (Phocis), were the oldest and most venerated prophetic shrines. 
At Dodoua three priestesses presided, to whom the gods spoke in the 



18G GREECE. 

rustling leaves of a sacred oak, and the murmurs of a holy rill. But 
the favorite oracular god was Apollo, who, besides the Pythian temple 
at Delphi, had shrines in various parts of the land.i The Greeks had 
implicit faith in the Oracles, and consulted them for every important 
undertaking. 

Priests and Priestesses shared in the reverence paid to the gods. 
Their temple duties were mainly prayer and sacrifice. They occu- 
pied the place of honor in the public festivities, and were supported 
by the temple revenues. 

Grecian religion included in its observances nearly the whole range 
of social pleasures. Worship consisted of songs and dances, proces- 
sions, libations, festivals, dramatic and athletic contests, and various 
sacrifices and purifications. The people generally were content with 
their gods and time-honored mythology, and left all difficult moral and 
religious problems to be settled by the philosophers and the serious- 
minded minority who followed them. 

ReJigioas Games and Festivals. — The OJyntj)lan Gaines were held 
once in four years in honor of Zeus, at Olymjiia. Here the Greeks 
gathered from all parts of the country, protected by a safe transit 
through hostile Hellenic states. The commencement of the Festival 
month having been formally announced by heralds sent to every state, 
a solemn truce suppressed all quarrels imtil its close. The competitive 
exercises consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and chariot- 
racing. The prize was a wreath from the sacred olive-tree in Olympia. 
The celebration, at first confined to one day, came in time to last 
five days. Booths were scattered about the Altis (p. 181), where a gay 
traffic was carried on ; while in the spacious council-room the ardent 
Greeks crowded to hear the newest works of poets, philosophers, and 
historians. All this excitement and enthusiasm were heightened by 
the belief that the pleasure enjoyed was an act of true religious worship. 
The Pytliian Games, sacred to Apollo, occurred near Delj>hi, in the 
third year of each Olympiad, and in national dignity ranked next to 
the Olympic. The prize-wreath was laurel. The Nemean and the 
Isthmian Games, sacred respectively to Zeus and Poseidon, were held 
once in two years, and, like the Pythian, had prizes for music and 
poetry, as well as gymnastics, chariots, and horses. The Nemean 

1 A volcanic site, having a fissure throngli wlncli gas escaped, was usually 
•elected. The Delphian priestess, having spent three days in fasting and bathing, 
seated lierself on a tripod over the chasm, where, under the real or imaginary effect 
of the vapors, she uttered her prophecies. Her ravings were recorded by the attend- 
ing prophet, and afterward turned into hexameter verse by poets hired for the pur- 
pose. The shrewd priests, tlirough their secret agents, kept well posted on all matters 
likely to be urged, and when tlieir knowledge failed, as in predi<'tions for the future, 
made the responses so ambiguous or unintelligible tliat they would seem to be verified 
by any result. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 187 

crown was of parsley, the Isthmian of pine. Sparta took interest 
only in the Olympic games, with which she had been connected from 
their beginning, and which, it is curious to note, were the only ones 
liaving no intellectual competition. Otherwise, Sparta had her own 
festivals, from which strangers were excluded. 

The Pavathence'al which took place once in four years at Athens, 
in honor of the i atron goddess, consisted of similar exercises, ternn- 
nating in a grand procession in which the whole Athenian population 
took part. Citizens in full military equipment; the victorious con- 
testants with splendid chariots and horses; priests and attendants 
leading the sacrificial victims ; dignified elders bearing olive-boughs; 
young men with valuable, artistic jilate ; and maidens, the purest 
and most beautiful in Athens, with baskets of holy utensils on their 
heads, — all contributed to the magnificent display. Matrons from the 
neighboring tribes carried oak-branches, while their daughters bore 
the chairs and sunshades of the Athenian maidens. In the center of 
the procession was a sliip resting on wheels, having for a sail a richly 
embroidered mantle or })cplof<, portraying the victories of Zeus and 
Athena, wrought and woven by Attic maidens. The procession, having 
gone through all the principal streets round to the Acropolis, marched 
up through its magnificent Propyla?a, past the majestic Parthenon, and 
at last reached the Erechtheion, or Temple of Athena Polias (p. 194). 
Here all arms were laid aside, and, amid the blaze of burnt-oti'erings 
and the ringing paeans of praise, the votive gifts were placed in the 
sanctuary of the goddess. 

Tlie Feast of Dionysus was celebrated twice during the spring 
season, the chief festival continuing for eight days. At this time 
those tragedies and comedies which had been selected by the archon — 
to whom all jdays were first submitted — were brought out in the 
Dionysiac Theater 2 at Athens, in competition for prizes. 

1 The Pauatheiiaic Proccssiou formed the subject of tlie sculpture on the frieze 
around the Parthenon celhi, in which stood the goddess sculpture*! by Phidias. Most 
of this frieze, much mutilated, is with the Elgin Marbles. 

2 This theater was built on the sloping side of the Acropolis, and consisted of a 
vast number of semicircular rows of seats cut out of the solid rock, accommodating 
thirty thousand persons. The front row, composed of white marble aini-chairs, 
was occupied by the priests, the judges, and the archous, each chair being 
engraved with tlie name of its occupant. Between the audience and the stage was 
the orchestra or place for the chorus, in the center of which stood the altar of 
Dionysus. Movable stairs led from the orchestra up to the stage, as the course of 
the drama frequently required the conjunction of the chorus witli the actors. The 
stage itself extejided the whole widtli of tlie theater, but was quite narrow, excejit 
at the center, where the representation took place. It was supported bj' a white 
marble wall, handsomely carved. There was a variety of machinery for change of 
scenes and for producing startling effects, sucli as the rolling of thunder, the descent 
of gods from heaven, the rising of ghosts and demons from below, etc. The theater 



188 GREECE. 

Each tribe fnraishecl a chorus of dancers and musicians, and chose 
a choragus, whose business was not only to superintend the training 
and costumes of the performers, but also to bear all the expense of 
bringing out the play assigned to him. The office was one of high 
dignity, and immense sums were spent by the choragi in their efforts 
to eclipse each other; the one adjudged to have given the best enter- 
tainment received a tripod, which was formally consecrated in the 
temples, and placed upon its own properly inscribed monument in the 
Street of Tripods, near the theater. 

The Actors, to increase their size and enable them the better to per- 
sonate the gods and heroes of Greek tragedy, wore high-soled shoes, 
padded garments, and great masks which completely enveloped their 
heads, leaving only small apertures for the mouth aiul eyes. As their 
stilts and stage-attire impeded any free movements, their acting con- 
sisted of little moi'e than a series of tableaux and recitations, while 
the stately musical apostrophes and narrations of the chorus filled 
up the gaps and supplied those parts of the story not acted on the 
stage. 1 

Tlie Performance began early in the morning, and lasted all day, 
eating and drinking being allowed in the theater. The price of seats 
varied according to location, but the poorer classes were supplied free 
tickets by the government, so that no one was shut out by poverty 
from enjoying this peculiar worship. 2 Each play generally occupied 
from one and a half to two hours. The audience was exceedingly 
demonstrative; an unpopular actor could not deceive himself; his 
voice was drowned in an uproar of whistling, clucking, and hissing, 

was open to the sky, but had an awning which might be drawn to sluit out the direct 
rays of the sun, while little jets of perfumed water cooled and refreshed the air. To 
aid the vast assembly in hearing, brazen bell shaped vases were placed in differeui 
parts of the theater. 

1 In comedy, the actors themselves often took the audience into their confidence, 
explaining the situation to them somewhat after the manner of some modern comic 
operas. 

2 Tragedy, which dealt with the national gods and heroes, was to the Greeks a 
true religious exercise, strengthening their faith, and quickening their sympathies 
for the woes of their beloved and fate-driven deities. When, as in rare instances, 
a subject was taken from contemporaneous history, no representation which would 
pain the audience was allowed, and on one occasion a poet was heavily lined for 
presenting a play which touched upon a recent Athenian defeat. Some great public 
lesson was usually hidden in the comedies, where the fashionable follies were merci- 
lessly satirized; and many a useful hint took root in the hearts of the people when 
given from the stage, that would have fallen dead or unnoticed if put forth in the 
assembly. "Quick of thought and utterance, of hearing and apprehension, living 
together in open public intercourse, reading would have been to the Athenians a slow 
process for the interchange of ideas. But the many thousands of auditors in the 
Greek theater caught, as with an electric flash of intelligence, the noble thought, the 
withering sarcasm, the flash of wit, and the covert innuendo."— PTitfip Smith. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



189 



and he might esteem himself happy if he escaped from the boards 
without an actual beating. The favorite, whether on the stage or as 
a spectator, was as enthusiastically applauded. l In comedies, tumult 
was invited, and the })eople were urged to shout and laugh, the comic 
poet sometimes throwing nuts and tigs to them, that their scrambling 
and screaming might add to the evidences of a complete success. 




GKECIAX FEMALE HEADS. 

Marriage. — Athenians could legally marry only among themselves. 
The cereniony did not require a priestly official, but was preceded by 
offerings to Zeus, Hera, Artemis, and other gods who presided over 
marriage.'-^ Omens were carefully observed, and a bath in water from 
the sacred fountain, Kallirrhoe, was an indispensable preparation. On 
the evening of the wedding-day, after a merry dinner given at her 



1 At the Olympian games, when Themistocles entered, it is related that the whole 
assembly rose to honor him. 

2 In nonier'3 time the groom paid to the lady's father a certain sum for his bride. 
Afterward this custom was reversed, and the amount of the wife's dowry greatly 
aflfected her position as a married woman. At the formal betrothal preceding every 
marriage this important question was settled, and in case of separation the dowry 
was usually returned to the wife's parents. 



190 GREFCE. 

father's house, the closely veiled bride was seated in a chariot between 
her husband and his ''best man," all dressed in festive robes and 
garlanded with flowers. Her mother kindled the nuptial torch at the 
domestic hearth, a procession of friends and attendants was formed, 
and, amid the joyful strains of the marriage-song, the whistling of 
flutes, and the blinking of torches, the happy pair were escorted to 
their future home. Here they were saluted with a shower of sweet- 
meats, after which followed the nuptial banquet. At this feast, by 
privilege, the women were allowed to be present, though they sat at a 
separate table, and the bride continued veiled. The third day after 
marriage the veil was cast aside, and wedding-presents were received. 
The parties most concerned in marriage were seldom consulted, and it 
was not uncommon for a widow to find herself bec[ueathed by her 
deceased husband's will to one of his friends or relatives. 

Death and Burial. — As a portal festooned with flowers an- 
nounced a wedding, so a vessel of water placed before a door gave 
notice of a death within. l As soon as a Greek died, an obolus was 
inserted in his mouth to pay Ids fare on the boat across the River 
Styx to Hades. His body was then washed, anointed, dressed in 
white, garlanded with flowers, and placed on a couch with the feet 
toward the outer door. A formal lament 2 followed, made by the female 
friends and relatives, assisted by hired mourners. On the third day 
the body was carried to the spot where it was to be buried or burned. 
It was preceded by a hired chorus of musicians and the male mourners, 
who, dressed in black or gray, had their hair closely cut. 3 The female 
mourners walked behind the bier. If the body were burned, sacrifices 
were offered; then, after all was consumed, the fire was extinguished 
witii wine, and the ashes, sprinkled with oil and wine, were collected 
in a clay or bronze cinerary. Various articles were stored with the 
dead, such as mirrors, trinkets, and elegantly painted vases. Tlie 
burial was followed by a feast, which was considered as given by the 
deceased (compare p. 42). Sacrifices of milk, honey, wine, olives, an<l 



1 The water was always bronglit from some other dwelling, and was used for the 
purificatiou of visitors, as everything within the house of mourning was polluted by 
the presence of the dead. 

2 Solon sought to restrain these ostentatious excesses by enacting tliat, except 
the nearest relatives, no women under sixty years of age should enter a house of 
mourning. In the heroic days of Greece tlie lament lasted several days (that of 
Achilles continued seventeen), but in later times an early burial was thought pleasing 
to the dead. The funeral pomp, which afterwjird became a common custom, was 
originally reserved for heroes alone. In the earlier Attic burials the grave was dug 
by the nearest relatives, and afterward sown with corn that the body might be recom- 
pensed for its own decay 

3 W^heu a great general died, the Lair and maues of all the arnw horses were 
cropped. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



191 



flowers were periodically offered at the grave, where slaves kept watch. 
Sometimes a regular bauquet was served, and a blood-sacrifice offered 
by the side of the tomb. The dead i>ersoii was supposed to be con- 
scious of all these attentions, and to bo displeased when an enemy 
approached his ashes. Malefactors, traitors, and people struck by 
lightning,! were denied burial, which in Greece, as in Egypt, was the 
highest possible dishonor. 




GKFX'IAN WAltKIOUS AND ATTENDANT. 

Weapons of War and Defense.— The Greeks fought with long 
spears, swords, clubs, battle-axes, bows, and slings. In the heroic 
age, chariots were employed, and the warrior, standing by the side of 
the charioteer, was driven to the front, where he engaged in single 
combat. Afterward the chariot was used only in races. A soldier 
in full armor wore a leather or metal helmet, covering his head and 
face ; a cuirass made of iron plates, or a leather coat of mail over- 
laid with iron scales ; bronze greaves, reaching from above the knee 



1 Sucli a death was supposed to be a direct punishment from the gods for some 
great offense or hidden depravity. 
B O H-l« 



192 GREECE. 

down to the ankle ; and a shield i made of ox-hides, covered with 
metal, and sometimes extending from head to foot. Thus equipped, 
they advanced slowly and steadily into action in a uniform phalanx of 
about eight spears deep, the warriors of each tribe arrayed together, 
so that individual or sectional bravery was easily distinguished. The 
light infantry wore no armor, but sometimes carried a shield of willow 
twigs, covered with leather. In Homer's time, bows six feet long 
were made of the horns of the antelope. Cavalry horses were pro- 
tected by armor, and the rider sat upon a saddle-cloth, a luxury not 
indulged in on ordinary occasions. Stirrups and horseshoes were un- 
known. The ships of Greece, like those of Phoenicia and Carthage, 
were fiat-bottomed barges or galleys, mainly propelled by oars. The 
oarsmen sat in rows or banks, one above the other, the number of 
banks determining the name of the vessel. 2 Bows and arrows, jave- 
lins, ballistas, and catapults were the offensive weapons used at a 
distance ; but the ordinary ship tactics were to run the sharp iron 
prow of the attacking vessel against the enemy's broadside to sink 
it, or else to steer alongside, board the enemy, and make a hand-to- 
hand fight. 

SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 

Retrospect. — We will suppose it to be about the close of the 
5th century b. c, with the Peloponnesian war just ended. The world 
is two thousand years older than when we watched the building of the 
Great Pyramid at Gizeh, and fifteen centuries have passed since the 
Labyrinth began to show its marble colonnades. Those times are even 
now remote antiquities, and fifty years ago Herodotus delighted the 
wondering Greeks with his description of the ancient ruins in the 
Fayoom. It is nearly two hundred and fifty years since Asshurbani- 
pal sat on the throne of tottering Nineveh, and one hundred and fifty 
since the fall of Babylon. Let us now visit Sparta. 

Scene I. — A Day in S^mrta. — A hilly, unwalled city on a river 
bank, with mountains in the distance. A great square or forum 
(Agora) with a few modest temples, statues, and porticoes. On the 
highest hill (Acropolis), in the midst of a grove, more temples and 

1 These shields were soiuetimes richly decorated with emblems and inscriptions. 
Thus ^schylus, in The Seven Chiefs against Thehes, describes one warrior's shield 
as bearing a flaming torch, with the motto, " I will burn the city ; " and another as 
having an armed man climbing a scaling-ladder, and for an inscription, "Not Mars 
himself shall beat me from the towers." 

2 A ship with three banks of oars was called a trireme; with four, a quadrireme, 
etc. In the times of the Ptolemies galleys of twelve, fifteen, twenty, and even forty 
banks of oars were built. The precise arrangement of the oarsmen in these large 
ships is not known (see cut, p. 158). 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 193 

statues, among them a brass statue of Zeus, the most ancient in Greece. 
In the suburbs the hippodrome, for foot and horse races, and tlie 
platanista', — a grove of beautiful palm-trees, partly inclosed by run- 
ning streams, — where the Spartan youth gather for athletic sports. A 
scattered city, its small, mean houses grouped here and there ; its 
streets narrow and dirty. This is Sparta. 

If we wish to enter a house, we have simply to announce ourselves 
in a loud voice, and a slave will admit us. We shall hear no cry of 
puny infants within ; the little boys, none of them over seven years 
old (p. 179), are strong and sturdy, and the girls are few; their weak 
or deformed brothers and surplus sisters have been cast out in their 
babyhood to perish, or to become the slaves of a chance rescuer. 

The mother is at home, — a brawny, strong-minded, strong-fisted 
woman, whose chief pride is that she can fell an enemy with one 
blow. Her dress consists of two garments, — a chiton; l and over it a 
peplos, or short cloak, which clasps above her shoulders, leaving her 
arms bare. She appears in public when she pleases, and may even 
give her opinion on matters of state. When her husband or sons go 
forth to battle, she sheds no sentimental tears, but hands to each his 
shield, with the proud injunction, '^ Return with it, or upon it." No 
cowards, whatever their excuses, find favor with her. When the blind 
Eurytus was led by. his slave into the foremost rank at TliermopylsB, 
she thought of him as having simply performed his duty; when 
Aristodemus made his blindness an excuse for staying away, she re- 
viled his cowardice ; and though he afterward died the most heroic of 
deaths at Plat^ea, it counted him nothing. She educates her daughters 
to the same unflinching defiance of womanly tenderness. They are 
trained in the palsestra or wrestling-school to run, wrestle, and fight 
like their brothers. They wear but one garment, a short sleeveless 
chiton, open upon one side, and often not reaching to the knee. 

The Spartan gentleman, who sees little of his family (p. 120), is 
debarred by law from trade or agriculture, and, having no taste for art 
or literature, spends his time, when not in actual warfare, in daily 
military drill, and in governing his helots. He never appears in public 
without his attendant slaves, but prudence compels him to walk be- 
hind rather than before them. In the street his dress is a short, coarse 
cloak, with or without a chiton ; perhaps a pair of thong-strapped 
sandals, a cane, and a seal-ring. He usually goes bare-headed, but 
when traveling in the hot sun wears a broad-brimmed hat or bonnet. 
His ideal character is one of relentless energy and brute force, and his 

1 The Doric chiton was a simple woolen shift, consisting of two short pieces of 
cloth, sewed or clasped together on one or both sides up to the breast; the parts 
covering the breast and back were fastened over each shoulder, leaving the open 
spaces at the side for arm-holes. It was contiued about the waist with a girdle. 



194 GREECE. 

standard of excellence is a successful defiance of all pain, and an 
ability to conquer in every fight. 

Scene II. — A Day in Athens (4th century b. c), — To see Athens 
is, first of all, to admire the Acropolis, — a high, steep, rocky, but 
broad-crested hill, sloping toward the city and the distant sea ; ascended 
by a marble road for chariots, and marble steps for pedestrians ; en- 
tered through a magnificent gateway (the Propylsea) ; and crowned on 
its spacious summit — one hundred and fifty feet above the level at its 
base — with a grove of stately temples, statues,! and altars. 

Standing on the Acropolis, on a bright morning about the year 300 
B. c, a magnificent view opens on every side. Away to the southwest 
for four miles stretch the Long Walls, five hundred and fifty feet apart, 
leading to the Pir^ean harbor ; beyond them the sea, dotted with sails, 
glistens in the early sun. Between us and the harbors lie the porticoed 
and templed Agora, bustling with the morning commerce ; the Pnyx,'^ 
with its stone bema, from which Demosthenes sixty or more years ago 
essayed his first speech amid hisses and laughter; the Areopagus, 
where from time immemorial the learned court of archons has held 
its sittings ; the hill of the Museum, crowned by a fortress ; the tem- 
ples of Hercules, Demeter, and Artemis ; the Gymnasium of Hermes ; 
and, near the Pireean gate, a little grove of statues, — among them one 
of Socrates, who drank the hemlock and went to sleep a hundred years 
ago. At our feet, circling about the hill, are amphitheaters for mu- 
sical and dramatic festivals ; elegant temples and colonnades ; and the 
famous Street of Tripods, more beautiful than ever since the recent 
erection of the monument of the choragus Lysicrates. Turning toward 
the east, we see the Lyceum, where Aristotle walked and talked 
within the last half century ; and the Cynosarges, where Antisthenes, 
the father of the Cynics, had his school. Still further to the north 
rises the white top of Mount Lycabettus, beyond which is the plain of 
Marathon ; and on the south the green and flowery ascent of Mount 
Hymettus, swarming with bees, and equally famous for its honey and 

1 Towering over all the other statues was the bronze Athena Proniachus, by 
Phidias, cast out of spoils won at Marathon. It was sixty feet high, and represented 
the goddess with her spear and shield in the attitude of a combatant. The remains 
of the Ereehtheion, a beautiful and peculiar temple sacred to two deities, stood near 
the Parthenon. It had been burned during the invasion of Xerxes, but was in process 
of restoration wlien the Peloponnesian war broke out. Part of it was dedicated to 
Athena Polias, whose olive-wood statue within its Avails was reputed to have fallen 
from heaven. It was also said to contain the sacred olive-tree brought forth by 
Athena, the spring of water which followed the stroke of Poseidon's trident, and 
even the impression of the trident itself. 

2 The two hills, the Pnyx and the Areopagus, were famous localities. Upon the 
former the assemblies of the people were held. The stone pulpit (bema), from which 
the orators declaimed, and traces of the leveled arena where the people gathered to 
listen, are still seen ou the Pnyx. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



195 



its marble. Tlirough tlio city, to tho soutlieast, flows the river Ilissus, 
sacred to the Muses. As we look about us, we are struck by the ab- 
sence of spires or pinnacles. There are no high towers as in Babylon ; 
no lofty obelisks as on the banks of the Nile ; the tiled roofs are all flat 
or slightly gabled, and on them we detect many a favorite promenade. 




GRECIAN LADIES AND ATTENDANT. 



A Greek Home. — The Athenian gentleman usually arises at dawn, 
and after a slight repast of bread and wine goes out with his slaves l 
for a walk or ride, previous to his customary daily lounge in the market 
place. While he is absent, if w^e are ladies we may visit the house- 
hold. We are quite sure to find the mistress at home, for, especially 
if she be young, she never ventures outside her dwelling without her 
husband's permission ; nor does she receive within it any but her lady- 
friends and nearest male relatives. The exterior of the house is very 
plain. Built of common stone, brick, or wood, and coated with plaster, 
it abuts so closely upon the street that if the door has been made to 
open outward (a tax is paid for this privilege) the comer-out is obliged 
to knock before opening it, in order to warn the passers-by. The dead- 
wall before us has no lower windows, but a strong door furnished with 



1 No gentloTiian in Alliens went out unless lie was accompanied by his servants. 
To be unattended b.v at least one slave was a sip^n of extreme indifjence, and no more 
to be thought of than to be seen without a cane. As to the latter, " a gentleman 
fojind going about witlicnit a walking-stick was presumed by the police to be dis- 
orderly, and was imprisoned for the night." 



196 GREECE. 

knocker and liandle, and beside it a Hermes (p. 143) or an altar to 
Apollo. Over the door, as in Egypt, is an inscription, here reading, 
"To the good genius," followed by the name of the owner. In re- 
sponse to our knock, the porter, who is always in attendance, opens the 
door. Carefully placing our right foot on the threshold, — it would be 
an unlucky omen to touch it with the left, — we pass through a long 
corridor to a large court open to the sky, and surrounded by arcades or 
porticoes. This is the peristyle of the andronifis, or apartments be- 
longing to the master of the house. Around the peristyle lie the ban- 
queting, music, sitting, and sleeping-rooms, the picture galleries and 
libraries. A second corridor, opening opposite the first, leads to another 
porticoed court, with rooms about and behind it. This is the gynw- 
conitis, the domain of the mistress. Here the daughters and hand- 
maidens always remain, occupied with their wool-carding, spinning, 
weaving, and embroidery, and hither the mother retires when her 
husband entertains guests in the andronitis. The floors are plastered 
and tastefully painted,! the walls are frescoed, and 
the cornices and ceilings are ornamented with 
stucco. The rooms are warmed from fireplaces, or 
braziers of hot coke or charcoal ; they are lighted 
mostly from doors opening upon the porticoes. In 
the first court is an altar to Zeus, and in the second 
the never-forgotten one to Hestia. The furnitiu-e 
is simple, but remarkable for elegance of design. 
Along the walls are seats or sofas covered with 
ANCIENT ijRAziER. gldus or purplc carpets, and heaped with cushions. 
There are also light folding-stools 2 and richly 
carved arm-chairs, and scattered about the rooms are tripods support- 
ing exquisitely painted vases. In the bedrooms of this luxurious 
home are couches of every degree of magnificence, made of olive-wood 
inlaid with gold and ivory or veneered with tortoise-shell, or of 
ivory richly embossed, or even of solid silver. On these are laid 
mattresses of sponge, feathers, or plucked wool ; and over them soft, 
gorgeously colored blankets, or a coverlet made of peacock skins, 
dressed with the feathers on, 3 and perfumed with imported essences. 

1 In later times flagging and mosaics were used. Before the 4th century b. c. the 
plaster walls were simply whitewashed. 

2 The four-legged, backless stool was called a diphros ; when an Athenian gentle- 
man walked out, one of his slaves generally carried a diphros for the convenience of 
his master when wearied. To the diphros a curved back was sometimes added, and 
the legs made immovable. It was then called a klismos. A high, largo chair, with 
straight back and low arms, was a thronos. The thronoi in the temples were for the 
gods; those in dwellings, for the master and liis guests. A footstool was indispen- 
sable, and was sometimes attached to the front legs of the thronos. 

8 "One of the greatest improvements introduced by the Greeks into the art of 




THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 197 

The mistress of the house, who is superintending the domestic labor, 
is di'essed in a long chiton, doubled over at the top so as to form a kind 
of cape which hangs down loosely, clasped on the shoulders, girdled 
at the waist, and falling iu many folds to her feet. When she ventures 
abroad, as she occasionally does to the funeral of a near relation, to 
the great religious festivals, and sometimes to hear a tragedy, she 
wears a cloak or iiiinatiouA The Athenian wife has not the privileges 
of the Spartan. The husband and father is the complete master of his 
household, and, so far from allowing his wife to transact any inde- 
pendent bargains, he may be legally absolved from any contract her 
request or counsel has induced him to make. — This is a busy morning 
in the home, for the master has gone to the market place to invite a 
few frientts to an evening banquet. The foreign cooks, hired for the 
occasion, are already liere, giving orders, and preparing choice dishes. 
At noon, all business in the market place having ceased, the Athenian 
gentleman returns to his liome for his mid-day meal and his siesta. 2 
As the cooler hours come on, he repairs to the crowded gjnnnasium, 
where he may enjoy the pleasures of the bath, listen to the learned 
lectures of philosophers and rhetoricians, or join in the racing, mili- 
tary, and gymnastic exercises.^ Toward sunset he again seeks his 
home to await his invited guests. 

The Banquet. — As each guest arrives, a slaved meets him in the 
court, and ushers him into the large triclinium or dining-room, where 
his host warmly greets him, and assigns to him a section of a couch. 
Before he reclines, 5 however, a slave unlooses his sandals and washes 

sleepiug was the practice of undressing before going to bed,— a thing unheard of until 
hit upon bj- their inventive genma."—FeUon. 

1 The dress of both sexes was nearly the same. The hiniation was a large, square 
piece of cloth, so wrapped about tlie form as to leave only tlie right arm free. Much 
skill was required to drape it artisticall3', and the taste and elegance of the wearer 
were decided by liis manner of carrying it. The same hiniation often served for both 
husband and wife, and it is related as among the unamiable traits of Xantippe, the 
slirewish wife of Socrates, that she refused to go out in lier husband's hiination. A 
gentleman usuallj' wore a chiton also, though he was considered fully dressed in the 
himatiou alone. The lower classes wore only the chiton, or were clothed in tanned 
skins. Raiment was cheap in Greece. In the time of Socrates a chiton cost about a 
dollar ; and an ordinary himation, two dollars. 

2 The poorer classes gathered together in groups along the porticoes for gossip 
or slumber, where indeed they not unfrequently spent their nights. 

3 Ball-playing, which was a favorite game with the Greeks, was taught scien- 
tifically in the gymnasium. The balls were made of colored leather, stuffed with 
featliers, wool, or fig-seeds, or, if very large, were hollow. Cock-and-quail fighting 
was anotlier exciting amusement, and at Athens took place annually by law, as an 
instructive exhibition of bravery. 

•* A guest frequently brought his own slave to assist in personal attendance upon 
himself. 

B The mode of reclining, which was similar to that In Assyria, is shown in the 



198 



GREECE. 



his feet in perfumed wine. The time having arrived for dinner, water 
is passed around for hand ablutions, and small, low tables are brought 
in, one being placed before each couch. There are no knives and forks, 
no table-cloths or napkins. Some of the guests wear gloves to enable 




A GKEEK SVMrOSIUM. 



them to take the food quite hot, others have hardened their fingers by- 
handling hot pokers, and one, a noted gourmand, has prepared him- 
self with metallic finger-guards. The slaves now hasten with the first 
course, which opens with sweetmeats, and includes many delicacies, 



cut, "A Greek Symposium." The place of liouor was next the host. The Greek wife 
and daughter uever appeared at these banquets, and at their every-day meals the 
wife sat on the couch at the feet of her master. The sous Avere not permitted to 
recline till they were of ago. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 199 

such as thrushes, hares, oysters, pungent herbs, and, best of all, 
Copaic eels, cooked crisp and brown, and wrapped in beet-leaves. ^ 
Bread is handed around in tiny baskets, woven of slips of ivory. Little 
talking is done, for it is good breeding to remain quiet until the sub- 
stantial viands are honored. From time to time the guests wipe their 
fingers upon bits of bread, throwing the fragments under the table. 
This course being finished, the well-trained slaves sponge or remove 
the tables, brush up the dough, bones, and other remnants from the 
fioor, and pass again the perfumed water for hand-washing. Garlands 
of myrtle and roses, gay ribbons, and sweet-scented ointments are 
distributed, a goldeu bowl of wine is brought, and the meal closes 
with a libation. 

The Symposium is introduced by a second libation, accompanied by 
hymns and the solemn notes of a flute. The party, hitherto silent, 
rapidly grow merry, while the slaves bring in the dessert and the wine, 
which now for the first time appears at the feast. The dessert con- 
sists of fresh fruits, olives well ripened on the tree, dried figs, imported 
dates, curdled cream, honey, cheese, and the salt-sprinkled cakes for 
which Athens is renowned. A large crater or wine-bowl, ornamented 
with groups of dancing bacchanals, is placed before one of the 
guests, who has been chosen archon. He is to decide upon the proper 
mixture of the wine, 2 the nature of the forfeits in the games of the 
evening, and, in fact, is henceforth king of the feast. The sport be- 
gins with riddles. This is a favorite pastime ; every failure in guessing 
requires a forfeit, and the penalty is to drink a certain quantity of 
wine. Music, charades, dancing and juggling performed by profes- 
sionals, and a variety of entertainments, help the hours to fiy, and 
the Symposium ends at last by the whole party inviting them- 
selves to some other banqueting-place, where they spend the night 
in revel. 3 

1 The Greeks were extravagautly fond of fish. Pork, the abhorierl of the Egyp- 
tians, was tlieir favorite meat. Bread, more tlian anything else, was tlie " stafl' of 
life," all other food, except sweetmeats— even meat— being called relish. Sweetmeats 
■were superstitiouslj"^ regarded, and scattering them about the house was an invitation 
to good luck. 

2 To drink wine clear was di8rei)utable, and it was generally diluted with two 
thirds water. 

3 The fashionable Symposia were usually of the character described above, but 
Bometimes they were more intellectual, affording an occasion for the brilliant disj)laj' 
of Attic wit and learning. The drinking character of the party was always the 
same, and in Plato's dialogue, The Symposium, in which Aristoplianes, Socrates, and 
other literary celebrities took part, the evening is broken in upon by two different 
bauds of revelers, and daylight finds Socrates and Aristophanes still diinking with 
the host. " Parasites (a recognized class of people, who lived by sponging tlieir 
dinners) and mountebanks always took the liberty to drop in wherever there was 
a feast, a fact which they ascertained by walking through the streets and snuffing at 
the kitchens."— /Te«on. 



200 GREECE. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — The Pelasgians are the primitive inhab- 
itants of Greece. In time the Hellenes descend from the north, 
and give their name to the land. It is the Heroic Age, the era of the 
sons of the gods, — Hercules, Theseus, and Jason, — of the Argouautie 
Expedition and the Siege of Troy. With the Dorian Migration 
("Return of the Heraelidas "), and their settlement in the Pelopon- 
nesus, the mythic stories end and real history begins. The kings 
disappear, and nearly all the cities become little republics. Hellenic 
colonies arise in Asia Minor, rivaling the glory of Greece itself. Ly- 
curgus now enacts his rigid laws (850 B. c). In the succeeding 
centuries the Spartans —pitiless, fearless, haughty warriors — conquer 
Messenia, become the head of the Peloponnesus, and threaten all 
Greece. Meanwhile --^pite of Draco's Code, the Alcma?onidae's curse, 
the factions of the men of the x^lain, the coast, and the mountain, and 
the tyranny of the Pisistratida? — Athens, by the wise measures of 
Solon and Cleisthenes, becomes a powerful republic. 

Athens now sends help to the Greeks of Asia Minor against the 
Persians, and the Asiatic deluge is precipitated upon Greece. Miltiades 
defeats Darius on the field of Marathon (490 B. c,)- Ten years later 
Xerxes forces the Pass of Thermopylae, slays Leonidas and his three 
hundred Spartans, and burns Athens ; but his fleet is x>ut to flight at 
Salamis, the next year his army is routed by Pausanias at Plataea, 
and his remaining ships are destroyed at Myeale. Thus Europe is 
saved from Persian despotism. 

The Age of Pericles follows, and Athens, grown to be a great com- 
mercial city, — its streets thronged with traders and its harbor with 
ships, — is the head of Greece. Sparta is jealous, and the Pelopounesian 
war breaks out in 431 B. c. Its twenty-seven years of alternate vic- 
tories and defeats end in the fatal expedition to Syracuse, the defeat 
of ^gospotami, and the fall of Athens. 

Sparta is now supreme ; but her cruel rule is broken by Epaminon- 
das on the field of Leuctra. Thebes comes to the front, but Greece, 
rent by rivalries, is overwhelmed by Philip of Macedon in the battle 
of Cha?ronea. The conqueror dying soon after, his greater son, 
Alexander, leads the armies of united Greece into Asia. The battles 
of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela subdue the Persian Empire. Thence 
the conquering leader marches eastward to the Indus, and returns to 
Babylon only to die (323 B. c). His generals divide his empire among 
themselves ; while Greece, a prey to dissensions, at last drops into the 
all-absorbing Roman Empire (146 b. c). 



SUMMARY. 201 

2. Civilization.— Athens and Sparta differ widely in thought, 
habits, and taste. Tlic Spartans care little for art and literature, and 
glory only in war and patriotism. They are rigid in their self-dis- 
cipline, and cruel to their slaves. They smother all tender home sen- 
timent, eat at the public mess, give their seven-year-old boys to the 
state, and train their girls in the rough sports of the pahestra. They 
distrust and exclude strangers, and make no effort to adorn their 
capital with art or architecture. 

The Athenians adore art, beauty, and intellect. Versatile and 
brilliant, they are fond of novelties and eager for discussions. Law 
courts abound, and the masses imbibe an education in the theater, 
along the busy streets, and on the Pnyx. In their democratic city, 
filled with magnificent temples, statues, and colonnades, wit and talent 
are the keys that unloc^j the doors of every saloon. Athens becomes 
the center of the world's history in all that pertains to the fine arts. 
Poetry and philosophy flourish alike in her classic atmosphere, and all 
the colonies feel the pulse of her artistic heart. 

Grecian Art ami Literature furnish models for all time. Infant 
Greece produces Homer and Hesiod, the patriarchs of epic poetry. 
Coming down the centuries, she brings out in song, and hymn, and ode, 
Sappho, Simonides, and Pindar; in tragedy, ^sehylus, Sophocles, 
and Euripides ; in comedy, Aristophanes and Menander ; in history, 
Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; in oratory, Pericles and 
Demosthenes ; in philosophy, Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and 
Aristotle ; in painting, Apelles ; in sculpture, Phidias, Praxiteles, and 
Lysippus. 

Greek Mythology invests every stream, grove, and mountain with 
gods and goddesses, nymphs, and naiads. The beloved deities are 
worshiped with songs and dances, dramas and festivals, spirited 
contests and gorgeous processions. The Four Great National Games 
unite all Greece in a sacred bond. The Feasts of Dionysus give birth 
to the drama. The Four Great Schools of Philosophy flourish and 
decay, leaving their impress upon the generations to come. Finally 
Grecian civilization is transported to the Tiber, and becomes IJlended 
with the national peculiarities of the conquering Romans. 



READING REFERENCES. 

Orote'8 History of Oreece.— Arnold's History of Greece.— Curtius' 8 History of 
Greece.— Felton' 8 Ancient and Modern O recce.— History Primers; Greece, and Greek 
Antiquities, edited by Green.— Smith's Student's History of Greece.— Becker's Chart- 
cles.—Guhl and K'dner's Life of the Greeks and Romans.— Br yce's History of Greece, 
in Freeman's Series.- Freeman's General Sketch of European History.— Collier' 8 
History of Greece —Heeren's Historical Researches. —Futz's Hand-book of Ancient 



202 



GREECE. 



History.— Buhver' 8 Mse and Fall of Athens.— Williams's Life of Alexander the 
Great— ThirlwalVs History of Greece.— Schliemann's Ilios, and Troja.-NiebuJir's 
Lectures on Ancient History.— Xenophon's Anabasis, Meinorabilia, and Cyropcedia. 
—St. John's The Helle7ies.—Fergusson's History of Architecture.— Stuart's Antiqui- 
ties of Athens.— Mahaffy's History of Greek Literature.— Murray's Hand-book of 
Greek Archaeology. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

B. C. 

Dorian Migration, about 1100 

Lycurgus, about 850 

First Olympiad 776 

[It is curious to notice how many important events cluster about this period, 
viz.: Rome was founded in 753; the Era of Nabonassar in Babylon began 
747; and Tiglath-Pileser II., the great military king of Assyria, ascended 
the throne, 745.] 

First Messenian "War 743-724 

Second Messenian War 685-668 

Draco 621 

Solon 594 

Pisistratus 560 

Battle of Marathon 490 

Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis 480 

" " Plataea and Mycale 479 

Age of Pericles 479-429 

Peloponnesian War 431-404 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand 400 

Battle of Leuctra 371 

Demosthenes delivered his "First Philippic " (Oration against Philip) 352 

Battle of Chseronea 338 

Alexander the Great 336-323 

Battle of the Granicus 334 

" " Issus 333 

" " Arbela 331 

Oration of Demosthenes on "TheCrown" 330 

Battle of Ipsus 301 

Greece becomes a Roman Province 146 




BAS-KEI-IEK OF THE NINE MUSES. 




J.WELLS, DEL. 



ROME. 



1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 

While Greece was winning her freedom on the fields of 
Marathon and Plata?a, and building up the best civilization 
the world had then seen ; while Alexander was carrying the 
Grecian arms and culture over the East; while the Con- 
queror's successors were wTangling over the prize he had* 
won; while the Ptolemies were transplanting Grecian 
thought, but not Grecian freedom, to Egyptian soil, — 
there was slowly growing up on the banks of the Tiber a 
city that was to found an empu-e wider than Alexander^Sj 
and, molding Grecian civilization, art, and literature into 
new forms, preserve them long after Greece had fallen. 

Contrasts between Greece and Italy. — Duration. — 
Greek history, from the First Olympiad (776 B. c.) to the 
Roman Conquest (146 B. c), covers about six centuries, but 
the national strength lasted less than two centimes ; Roman 
history, from the founding of Rome (753 B. c.) to its down- 
fall (476 A. D.), stretches over twelve centuries. 

Geographical Questions. —^a^ maps, pp. 210 and 255. Describe the Tiber. Locate 
Rome; Ostia; Alba Longa; Veii (Veji) ; the Sabines ; the Etruscans. Where was 
Carthage? New Cartliage? Saguntum'? Syracuse? Lake Trasimeuus? Capua? 
Cannae? Tarentum? Cisalpine Gaul? lapygia (the " heel of Italy," reaching toward 
Greece)? Bmtium (the " toe of Italy ") ? What were the limits of the empire at the 
time of its greatest extent? Name the principal countries which it then inclu^led. 
Locate Alexandria ; Autioch ; Smyrna ; Pliilippi ; Byzantium. 



204 ROME. 

Manner of Growth. — Greece, cut up into small valleys, 
grew around many little centers, and no two leaves on her 
tree of liberty were exactly alike ; Italy exhibited the un- 
broken advance of one imperial city to universal dominion. 
As a result, we find in Greece the fickleness and jealousies 
of petty states ; in Italy, the power and resources of a mighty 
nation. 

Direction of GroivtJi.— Greece lay open to the East, whence 
she originally drew her inspiration, and whither she in time 
returned the fruits of her civilization ; Italy lay open to the 
West, and westward sent the strength of her civiHzation to 
regenerate barbarian Europe. 

Character of Influence. — The mission of 'Greece was to ex- 
hibit the triumphs of the mind, and to illustrate the prin- 
ciples of liberty; that of Rome, to subdue by irresistible 
force, to manifest the power of law, and to bind the nations 
together for the coming of a new religion. 

TJltiniate Results. — When Greece fell from her high estate, 
she left only her history and the achievements of her artists 
and statesmen ; when the Roman Empire broke to pieces, the 
great nations of Europe sprang from the ruins, and their 
languages, civilization, laws, and religion took their form 
from the Mistress of the World. 

The Early Inhabitants of Italy were mainly of the 
same Aryan swarm that settled Greece. But they had be- 
come very different from the Hellenes, and had split into 
various hostile tribes. Between the Arno and the Tiber 
lived the Etruscans or Tuscans, — a league of twelve cities. 
These people were great builders, and skilled in the arts. 
In northern Italy, Cisalpine Gaul was inhabited by Celts, 
akin to those upon the other side of the Alps. Southern 
Italy contained many prosperous OreeJc cities. The Italians 
occupied central Italy. They were divided into the Latins 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



205 



and Oscans. The former comprised a league of thii'ty 
towns (note, p. 117) south of the Tiber; the hitter consisted 
of various tribes living eastward, — Samnites, Sabines, etc.^ 
Rome was founded ^ (753 b. c.) by the Latins, perhaps 



1 Some authorities group the Samnites, Sabines, Umbrians, Oacaus, Sabclliaus, 
etc., as the Umbrians,- and others call them the Umbro-Sabellians. They were 
doubtless closely related. 

2 Of the early I1I8T0UY OF ROME there is no reliable account, as the records 
were burned when the city was destroyed by the Gauls (390 b. c), and it was five 
hundred years after the founding of the city (A. U. C, anno urbis conditce) before the 
first rude attempt was made to write a continuous narrative of its origin. The names 
of the early monarchs are probably personifications, rather than the appellations of 
real persons. The word " Home " itself means border, and probably had no relation to 
the fabled Romulus. The history which was accepted in later times by tlie Romans, 
and has come down to us, is a series of beautiful legends. In the text is given the 
real history as now received by the best critics, and in the notes the mythical stories. 

^NEAS, favored by the god 
Mercury and led by his mother 
Venus, came, after the destruc- 
tion of Troy, to Italy. There his 
son Ascanius built the Long 
White City (Alba Longa). His 
descendants reigned in peace for 
three hundred years. When it 
came time, according to the de- 
cree of the gods, that Rome 
should be founded, 

ROMULUS AND REMUS Were 
born. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, 
was a priestess of the goddess 
Vesta, and their father, Mars, the 
god of war. Amulius, who had 
usurped the Alban throne from 
their grandfather Numitor, or- 
dered the babes to be thrown 
into the Tiber. Thej' were, how- 
ever, cast ashore at the foot of 
Mount Palatine. Here they were 
nursed by a wolf. One Faustulus, 
passing near, was struck by the 
sight, and, carrying the children 
home, brought them up as his 
own. Romulus and Remus, on 
coming to age, discovered their 




KOMAN WOLF STATUE 



true rank, slew the usurper, and restored their grandfather Numitor to liis throne. 

FOUNDING OF ROME.— Tlie brothers then determined to found a city near tho spot 
where they had been so wonderfully preserved, and agreed to Avatch the flight of 
birds in order to decide which should fix upon the site. Remus, on the Aventine 
Hill, saw six vultures ; but Romulus, on the Palatine, saw twelve, and was declared 
victor. He accordingly began to mark out the boundaries with a brazen plow, 
drawn by a bullock and a heifer. As the mud wall rose, Remus in scorn jumped 



206 



ROME. 



a colony sent out from Alba Longa, as an outpost against 
the Etruscans, whom they greatly feared. At an early date 
it contained about one thousand miserable, thatched huts, 
surrounded by a wall. Most of the inhabitants were shep- 
herds or farmers, who tilled the land upon the plain near 
by, but lived for protection within their fortifications on 
the Palatine Hill. It is probable that the other hills, after- 
ward covered by Rome, were then occupied by Latins, and 
that the cities of Latium formed a confederacy, with Alba 
Longa at the head. 

over it; whereupon Roiiinhis slew liim, exclaiming, "So perish everyone who may 
try to leap over these ramparts ! " The new city he called Rome after his own name, 
and became its first king. To secure inhabitants, he opened an asylum for refugees 
and criminals; but, lacking women, he resorted to a curious expedient. A great 
festival in honor of Neptune was appointed, and the neighboring people were invited 
to come with their families. In the midst of the games the young Romans rushed 
among the spectators, and each, seizing a maiden, carried her ofif to be his wife. The 
indignant parents returned home, but only to come back in arms, and thirsting for 
vengeance. The Sabines laid siege to the citadel on the Capitoliue Hill. Tarpeia, 
the commandant's daughter, dazzled by the glitter of their golden bracelets and 

rings, promised to betray the 
fortress if the Sabines would 
give her " what they wore on 
their left arms." As they 
passed in through the gate, 
which she opened for them 
in the night, they crushed her 
beneath their heavy shields. 
Henceforth that part of the 
hill was called the Tarpeian 
Rock, and down its precipice 
traitors were hurled to death. 
The next day after Tarpeia's 
treachery, the battle raged in 
the valley between the Capi- 
toliue and Palatine Hills. In 
his distress, Romulus vowed 
a temple to Jupiter. The Ro- 
mans thereupon turned, and 
drove back their foes. In the 
flight, Mettius Curtius, the 
leader of the Sabines, sunk 
with his horse into a marsh, 
and nearly perished. Ere the contest could be renewed, the Sabine women, with 
disheveled hair, suddenly rushed between their kindred and new-found husbands, 
and implored peace. Their entreaties prevailed, the two people united, and their 
kings reigned Jointly. As the Sabines came from Cures, the united people were 
called Romans and Quirites. 




THE TARrEIAN ROCK (FROM AN OLD PRINT). 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY, 



207 



The Early Government was aristocratic. It had a 
king, a senate, and an ass('nd)ly. The priest-kin<>' offered 
saerifiees, and presided over the senate. The senate had the 
right to discuss and vote ; the assembly, to discuss only. 
Each original family or house {gem) was represented in 
the senate by its head. This body was therefore composed 
of the fathers (patres), and was from the beginning the 
soul of the rising city ; while throughout its entire history 
the intelligence, experience, and wisdom gathered in the 
senate determined the poUcy and shaped the puljlic life 



Romulus, after the death of Tatius, became sole king. He divided the people into 
nobles aud commons; the former he called patricians, and the latter plebeians. The 
patricians were separated into tliree tribes^,— Hamnes, Titles, and Luceres. In each of 
these he made ten divisions, or curice. The thirty curiae formed the assembly of the 
people. The plebeians, being apportioned as tenants and dependants among the 
patilcians, were called clients. One hundred of the patricians were cliosen for age and 
wisdom, and styled fathers (patres). After Ilomulus had reigned thirtj'-seven years, 
and done all these things according to the will of the gods, one day, during a violent 
thunder-storm, he disappeared from sight, and was henceforth worsliiped as a god. 

NUMA POMi'iLius, a pious Sabine, was the second king. Numa was wise from 
his youth, as a sign of which his hair was gray at birth. He was trained by Pythag- 
oras (p. 174) in all the knowledge of the Greeks, 
and was wont, in a sacred grove near Rome, to 
meet the nymph Egeria, who taught him lessons 
of wisdom, and how men below should worship 
the gods above. By pouring wine into the spring 
whence Faunus and Picus, the gods of the wood, 
drank, he led them to tell him the secret charm 
to gain the will of Jupiter. Peace smiled on the 
land during his happy reign, and the doors of the 
temple of Janus remained closed. 

TULLUS HosTiLius, the third king, loved war 
as Numa did peace. He soon got into a quarrel 
with Alba Longa. As the armies were about to 
fight, it was agreed to decide the contest by a 
combat between the Horatii (three brothers in 
the Roman ranks) and the Curatii (three brothers 
in the Alban). They were cousins, and one of the 

Curalii was engaged to be Tuarried to a sister of one of the Horatii. In the fight 
two of the Horatii were killed, when the third pretended to run. The Curatii, be- 
cause of tlieir wounds, followed him slowly, and, becoming separated, he turned 
about and slew them one by one. As the victor returned laden with tlie spoils, he 
met his sister, who, catching sight of the robe which she had embroidered for her 
lover, burst into tears. Horatius, unable to bear her reproaches, struck her dead, 
saying, " So perish any Roman woman who laments a foe ! " The murderer was con- 
demned to die, but the people spared him because his valor had saved Rome. Alba 
submitted, but, the inhabitants proving treacherous, the city was razed, and the people 
were taken to Rome and located on the CcElian Hill. The Albans and the Romana 




TEMPLE OF JANUS. 



20S 



ROME. 



that made Rome tlie Mistress of the World. The assembly 
{comitia curiafa) consisted of the men belonging to these 
ancient families. Its members voted by curim; each curia 
contained the voters of ten houses (gentes). 

Sabine Invasion and League. — The Sabines, coming 
down the valley of the Tiber, captured the Capitohne and 
Quirinal Hills. At first there were frequent conflicts be- 
tween these near neighbors, but they soon came into aUiance. 
Finally the two tribes formed one city, and the people were 
thereafter known as Romans and Quirites. Both had seats in 



now became one nation, as the Sabines and the Romans had become in the days of 

Romulus. In liis old age, Tullus sought to find out the will of Jupiter, using the spells 

of Numa, but angry Jove struck him with a thunderbolt. 

ANCUS^ Makcius, the grandson of Numa, conquered many Latin cities, and, 
bringing the inhabitants to Rome, gave them homes on 
the Aventine Hill. He wrote Numa's laws on a white 
board in the Forum, built a bridge over the Tiber, and 
erected the Mamertine Prison, the first in the city. 

Tarquinius Pkiscus, the fifth king, was an Etruscan, 
who came to Rome during the reign of Ancus. As he 
approached the city, an eagle flew, circling above his 
head, seized his cap, rose high in air, and then returning 
replaced it. His wife, Tanaquil, being learned in augury, 
foretold thathe was coming to distinguished honor. Her 
prediction proved true, for he greatly pleased Ancus, 
who named him as his successor in place of his own 
children. The people ratified the choice, and the event 
proved its wisdom. Tarquin built the famous Drain 
(cloaca), which still remains, with scarce a stone dis- 
placed. He planned the Great Race-Course (Circus 
Maximus) and its games. He conquered Etruria, and 
the Etruscans sent him " a golden crown, a scepter, 
an ivory chair, a purple toga, an embioidered tunic, 
and an ax tied in a bundle of rods." So the Romans 
adopted these emblems of royal power as signs of 
their dominion. 

Now, there was a boy named Servius Tullius brought 

up in the palace, who was a favorite of the king. One 

day while the child was asleep lambent flames were seen 

playing about his head. Tanaquil foresaw from this 

\^> UIIIIIJjjLIJU ^ that he was destined to great things. He was hence- 

^~^ ■■ ^ forth in high favor; he married the king's daughter, 

and became his counselor. The sons of Ancus, fearing 
lest Servius should succeed to the throne, and being 
wroth with Tarquin because of the loss of their paternal 
inheritance, assassinated the king. But Tanaquil re- 
ported that Tarquin was only wounded, and wished that 

Servius might govern until he recovered. Before the deception was discovered, 




ROMAN FASCES. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 209 

the senate, and the king was taken alternately horn each. 
This was henceforth the mode of Rome's gi-owth ; she ad- 
mitted her allies and conquered enemies to citizenship, thns 
adding their strength to her own, and making her victories 
their victories. 

Alba Lionga, the chief town of the Latin League and 
the mother city of Rome, was herself, after a time, destroyed, 
and the inhabitants were transferred to Rome. The Alban 
nobles, now perhaps called Liiceres, with the Sabines {Titles), 
ali-eady joined to the original Romans (Ranmes), made the 

Servius was liriuly fixed in his seat. He made a league witJi the Latins, and, as 
a sign of the union, built to Diana a teniiile on the Aventine, where both peoples 
oflfeied annual sacrifices for Rome and LatiuTn. He enlarged Rome, inclosing tlie 
seven hills with a stone wall, and divided the city into four parts,— called tribes, after 
the old division of the people as instituted by Romulus,— and all the land about into 
twenty-six districts. The son of a bond-maid, Servius favored the common people. 
This was shown in his sepaiatiou of all the Romans— patricians and plebeians— into 
five classes, according to their wealth. These classes were .subdivided into centuries, 
and tliey were to assemble in this military order when the king wished to consult 
concerning peace or war, or laws. In the centuriate assembly the richest citizens 
had the chief influence, tor they formed eighty centuries, and the knights (equites) 
eighteen centuries, each having a vote; while fewer votes were given to the lower 
classes. But this arrangement was not unjust, .since the wealthy were to provide 
themselves with lieavj' armor, and fight in the front rank ; while the poorest citizens, 
who formed but one century, were exempt from military service. 

The hoo daughters of Servius were married to the two sons of Tarquinius the 
Elder. The couples were ill matched, in each casp the good and gentle being mated 
with the cruel and haughty. Finallj-, Tullia murdered her husband, and Lucius 
killed his wife, and the.se two partners in crime, and of like evil instincts, were mar- 
ried. Lucius now conspired with the nobles against the king. His plans being ripe, 
one day he went into the senate and sat down on the throne. Servius, hearing the 
tumult which aro.se, ha.steued thither, whereupon Lucius hurled the king headlong 
down the steps. As tlie old man was tottering homeward, tlie usurper's attendants 
followed and murdered him. Tullia hastened to the senate to salute her liu-sband as 
king ; but he, somewhat le.ss brutal than she, ordered her back. While returning, 
her driver came to the prostrate body of the king, and was about to turn aside, when 
she fiercely bade hira go forward. Tlie blood of her father spattered lier dress as 
the chariot rolled over his lifeless remains. The place took its name from this horrible 
deed, and was thenceforth known as the Wicked Street. 

Lucius TAUQirixiLS, who thus became the seventh and last king, was surnamed 
Superbus (the Proud). He erected massive edifices, compelling the workmen to re- 
ceive .such pitiable wages that many in despair committed suicide. In digging the 
foundations of a temple to Jupiter, a bleeding head {captit) was discovered. This the 
king took to be an omen tliat the city was to become the lieadof the world, and so gave 
the name Capitoline to tlie temi)le, and the liill on which it stood. In the vaults of 
this temple weredeposited the Sibylline books, concerning which a singular story was 
told. One day a sibyl from Cum<e came to tlie king, offering to sell him for a fabu- 
lous sum nine books of prophecies. Tarquin declined to buy, whereupon she burned 



EAELY TRIBES 

AND CITIES 

OF THE 

ITALIAN 

PENINSULA, 

before the 

advent of the Gaulsi 




PLAN OF THE 

R03IAN HILLS 

1 Suburra 4 Circus Maximus 

2 Roman Forocx 5 Colosseum 
Velabrum 6 Pantheon 

7 Amphitheater of Taurus 

8 Mausoleum of Augustus 



J.aurenlunr-frtMloir»'^-CT0'' 



RUSSELL i STRUTHERS, ENG'S, N-V. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 211 

number of tribes three; of curite, thirty; and of houses, 
(probably) three hundred. 

Etruscan Conquest. — The rising city was, in its turn, 
conquered by the Etruscans, who pkced the Tarquins on 
the throne. This foreign dynasty were builders as well as 
warriors. They adorned Rome with elegant edifices of 
Etruscan architecture. They added the adjacent heights to 
the growing capital, and extended around the '' seven-hilled 
city" a stone wall, which lasted eight centuries. Rome, 
mthin one hundred and fifty years after her founding, be- 
came the head of Latium. 

three of the books, and demanded the same price for the remaining six. Tarquin 
laughed, thinking her mad; but when she burned three more, and still asked the 
original amount for the other volumes, the king began to reflect, and finally bought 
the books. They were thereafter jealously guarded, and consulted in all great state 
emergencies. 

The Latin town of Gabii was taken by a stratagem. Sextus, the son of Tarquin, 
pretending to have fled from his father's ill usage, took refuge in that city. Hav- 
ing secured the confidence of the people, he secretly sent to his father, asking 
advice. Tarquin merely took the messenger into his garden, and, walking to and fro, 
knocked ofi" with his cane the tallest poppies. Sextus read his father's meaning, and 
managed to get rid of the chief men of Gabii, when it was easy to give up the place to 
the Romans. 

Tarquin was greatly troubled by a strange omen, a serpent having eaten the sacri- 
fice on the royal altar. The two sous of the king were accordingly sent to consult 
the oracle at Delphi. They were accompanied by their cousin Junius, called Brutus 
because of his silliness ; which, however, was only assumed, through fear of the tyrant 
who had already killed his brother. The king's sons made the Delphic god costly 
presents ; Brutus brought only a simple staff, but, unknown to the rest, this was 
hollow and filled with gold. Having executed their commission, the young men 
asked the priestess which of them should be king. The reply was, "The one who 
first kisses his mother." On reaching Italy, Brutus, prt-tending to fall, kissed the 
ground, the common mother of us all. 

As the royal princes and Tarquiuius Collatinus were one day fea.sting in the camp 
a dispute arose concerning the industrj' of their wives. To decide it they at once 
hastened homeward through the darkness. They found the king's daughters at a 
fe.stival, while Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was in the midst of her slaves, dist.nff 
in hand. Collatinus was exultant ; but soon after, Lucretia, stung by the insults 
she received from Sextus, killed herself, calling upon her friends to avenge her 
fate. Brutus, casting ofi" the mask of madness, drew forth the dagger she used, and 
vowed to kill Sextus and expel the detested race. The oath was repeatcMl as the red 
blade passed from hand to hand. The people rose in indignation, and drove the 
Tarquins from tlie city. Henceforth tlie Romans hated the ver5' name of king. Rome 
now became a free citj' after it liad been governed by kings for two hundred and forty- 
five years. Tlie i)eople chose for ruleis two consuls, elected yearly ; and to otlor 
sacrifices in place of the king, they selected a priest who should have no power in the 
state. 



212 ROME. 

The Servian Constitution. — The Tarquins diminished 
patrician power and helped the plebs by a change in the 
constitution. Servius ( p. 209) divided all the Romans into 
five classes, based on property instead of birth, and these 
into one hundred and ninety-three centuries or companies. 
The people were directed to assemble by centuries [comitia 
centuriata), either to fight or to vote. This body, in fact, 
constituted an army, and was called together on the field of 
Mars by the blast of the trumpet. To the new centuriate 
assembly was given the right of selecting the king and en- 
acting the laws. The king was deprived of his power as 

Brutus and Collatinus were the first consuls. Soon after this the two sons of 
Brutus plotted to bring Tarquin back. Their father was sitting on the judgment-seat 
when they were brought in for trial. Tlie stern old Roman, true to duty, sentenced 
both to death as traitors. 

Tarquin now induced the Etruscans of the towns of Veil and Tarquinii to aid 
him, and they accordingly marched toward Rome. The Romans went forth to meet 
them. As the two armies drew near, Aruns, son of Tarquin, catching sight of Brutus, 
rushed forward, and the two enemies fell dead, each pierced by tlie other's spear. 
Night checked the terrible contest which ensued. During the darkness the voice of 
the god Silvauus was heard in the woods, saying that Rome had beaten, since the 
Etruscans had lost one man more than the Romans. Tlie Etruscans fled in dismay. 
The matrons of Rome mouined Brutus for a whole year because he had so bravely 
avenged the wrongs of Lucretia. 

TSText came a powerful armj' of Etruscans under Porsenna, king of Clusium. He 
captured Janiculum (a hill just aross the Tiber), and would liave forced his way into 
the city with the fleeing Romans had not Horatius Codes, with two brave men, held 
the bridge while it was cut down behind them. As the timbers tottered, his com- 
panions rushed across. But he kept the enemy at bay until the shouts of the Romans 
told him the bridge was gone, when, with a prayer to Father Tiber, he leaped into the 
stream, and, amid a shower of arrows, swam safely to the bank. The people never 
tired of praising this hero. They erected a statue in his honor, and gave him as 
much land as he could plow in a day. 

" And still his name sounds stirring 
Unto the men of Rome, 
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them 

To charge the Volscian home. 
And wives still pray to Juno 

For boys with hearts as bold 
As his who kept the bridge so well 
In the brave days of old." 

Macatilay's Lays. 

Porsenna now laid siege to the city. Then Mucins, a young noble, went to the 
Etru.scau camp to kill Porsenna. By mistake ho slew the treasurer. Being dragged 
before the king, and threatened with death if he did not confess liis accomplices, he 
thrust his right hand into an altar-tire, and held it there until it was burned to a 



509B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 213 

priest, this office being- conferred on tlie cliief pontiff. The 
higlier classes, aggrieved l)y tliesc clianges, at last coiM])ined 
with other Latin cities to expel their Ktrnscan rulers. 
Kings now came to an end at Rome. This was in 509 b. c, 
— a year after Hippias was driven out of Athens (p. 124). 

The Republic was tlien established. Two chief magis- 
trates, eousuls (at first called pni^tors), were chosen, it being 
thought that if one turned out badly the other would check 
him. The constitution of Servius was adopted, and the 
senate, which had dwindled in size, was restored to its ideal 
number, three hundred, by the addition of one hundred and 
sixty-four life-members (conscripti) chosen from the richest 
of the knights (eqnites), several of these being plebeians. 

The Struggle between the Patricians and the 
Plebeians w^as the characteristic of the first two hundred 
years of the republic. The patricians were the descendants 
of the first settlers. They were rich, proud, exclusive, 
and demanded all the offices of the government. Each of 
these nobles was supported by a powerful body of clients 
or dependants. The plebeians were the newer families. 
They w^ere generally poor, forbidden the rights of citizens, 

crisp. Porsenna, amazed at his firmness, gave liim liis liberty. Mucins thereupon 
told the kiug that three hundred Roman youths had sworn to accomplish his death. 
Porsenna, alarmed for his life, made peace with Rome. Among the hostages given 
by Rome was Cloelia, a noble maiden, who, escaping from the Etruscan camp, swam 
the Tiber. The Romans sent her back, but Porsenna, admiring her courage, set her 
free. 

Tarquin next secured a league of thirty Latin cities to aid in liis restoration. In 
this emergency the Romans appointed a dictator, who sliould possess absolute power 
for six months. A great battle was fought at Lake Regillus. Like most ancient con- 
tests, it began with a series of single encounters. First, Tarquin and the Roman 
dictator fouglit; then the Latin dictator and the Roman master of horse. Finally 
the main armies came to blows. The Romans being worsted, their dictator vowed a 
temple to Castor and Pollux. Suddenly the Twin Brethren, taller and fairer tlian 
men, on snow-white horses and clad in rare armor, were seen fighting at his side. 
Everywhere the Latins broke and fled before them. Tarquin gave up his attempt in 
despair. Tliat night two liders, their horses wet with foam and blood, rode up to a 
fountain before the Temple of Vesta at Rome, and, as they washed otf in the cool 
water the traces of tlie battle, told how a great victory had been won over the Latin 
host (see Steele's New Astronomy, p. 227). 



214 ROME. [494 b. C. 

and not allowed to intermarry with the patricians. Obliged 
to serve in the army without pay. during their absence their 
farms remained untilled, and were often ravaged by the 
enemy. Forced, when they returned from war, to borrow 
money of the patricians for seed, tools, and food, if they 
failed in their payments they could be sold as slaves, or cut 
in pieces for distribution among their creditors. The prisons 
connected with the houses of the great patricians were full 
of plebeian debtors. 

Secession to Mons Sacer.^ — Tribunes (494 b. c). — 
The condition of the plebs became so unbearable that they 
finally marched off in a body and encamped on the Sacred 
Mount, where they determined to build a new city, and let 
the patricians have the old one for themselves. The pa- 
tricians,^ in alarm, compromised by canceling the plebeian 
debts and appointing tribunes of the people, whose persons 
were sacred, and whose houses, standing open day and 
night, were places of refuge. To these new officers was after- 
ward given the power of veto (I forbid) over any law passed 
by the senate and considered injurious to the plebs. Such 
was the exclusiveness of the senate, however, that the trib- 
unes could not enter the senate-house, but were obliged to 
remain outside, and shout the "v^to" through the open 
door. 

There were now two distinct peoples in Rome^ each with 
its own interests and officers. This is well illustrated in tlK^ 
fact that the agreement made on Mons Sacer was concluded 
in the form of an international treaty, with the usual oaths 
and sacrifices ; and that the magistrates of the plebs were 

1 Piso mentions the Aventiiie as the probable " Mons Sacer," or Sacred Mount. 

2 OW Menenins Agrippa tried to teach the plebeians a lesson in a fable: Oucenpon 
a time the various human organs, tired of serving so seemingly idle a member as the 
stomach, "struck work ;" accordingly the hands would carry no food to the mouth, 
and the teeth would not chew. Soon, however, all the organs began to fail, and then, 
to their suiprise, they leained that they all depen^led on tliis very stomach. 



494 B.C.] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



211 




UOMAN FI.KBEIANtJ. 



declared to be inviolate, 
like the ambassadors of 
a foreign power. 

The Three Popu- 
lar Assemblies of 
Rome, with tlieir pecu- 
liar organization and 
powers, marked so many 
stages of constitutional 
growth in the state. 

The AssemUy of Curi- 
es (comitia curiata), the 
oldest and long the 
only one, was based on 
the patrician separation 
into tribes {Ramnes, Ti- 
tles, and Ijiiceres). No plebeian had a voice in this gather- 
ing, and it early lost its influence, and became a relic of 
the past. 

TJie Assenihhj of Cen furies (comitia centiu-iata), which came 
in with the Etruscan kings, was essentially a mihtary organi- 
zation. Based on the entire population, it gave the plebe- 
ians their first voice, though a weak one, in public affairs. 

The Assemhhj of the Tribes (comitia tributa), introduced 
with the rising of the plebs, was based on the new separa- 
tion into tribes, i. e., wards and districts. The patricians 
were here excluded, as the plebeians had been at first ; and 
Rome, which began with a purely aristocratic assembly, had 
now a iDurely democratic one. 

The original number of the local tribes was twenty 
in all, — four city wards and sixteen country districts. 
With the growth of the republic and the acquisition of new 
territory, the number was increased to thirty-five (241 b. c). 



216 ROME. [486 b. C. 

The Roman citizens were then so numerous and so scattered 
that it was impossible for them to meet at Rome to elect 
officers and make laws : but still the organization was kept 
up till the end of the repubUc, 

An Agrarian Law {a(je)% a field) was the next measure 
of relief granted to the common people. It was customary 
for the Romans, when they conquered a temtory, to leave the 
o^vmers a part of the land, and to take the rest for them- 
selves. Though this became public property, the patricians 
used it as their ow^l. The plebeians, who bore the brunt of 
the fighting, naturally thought they had the best claim to 
the spoils of war, and with the assertion of their civil rights 
came now a claim for the rights of property. ^ 

Spurins Cassius ^ (486 B. c), though himself a patrician, 
secured a law ordaining that part of the public lands shoidd 
be di^4ded among the poor plebeians, and the patricians 
should pay rent for the rest. But the patricians were so 
strong that they made the law a dead letter, and finally, 
on the charge of wishing to be king, put Spurius to death, 
and leveled his house to the ground. The agitation, how- 
ever, still continued. 

The Decemvirs (451 b. c). — The tribunes, through 
ignorance of the laws, which were jealously guarded as the 
exclusive property of the patricians, wei'e often thwarted 
in their measures to aid the common ]:)eople. The plebs 
of Rome, therefore, like the common people of Athens 
nearly two hundred years before (p. 121), demanded that 
the laws should be made public. After a long struggle 
the senate pelded. Ten men {(Ipcpinrirs) were appointed 

1 Property at that early date eonsisted almost entirely of land and cattle. The 
Latin word for money, pecunia (cattle), indicates tliis ancient identity. 

2 Spnrius wa.s the author of the famous League of the Romans, Latin.s and Her- 
nicans, hy means of which the .^Equians and Volscians were long held in check. 
The men of the Latin League fought side by side until after the Gallic invasion. 



451 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 217 

to revise and publish the laws. Meanwhile the regular 
government of consuls and tribunes was suspended. The 
decemvirs did their work well, and compiled ten tables 
of laws that were acceptable. Their year of office having 
expired, a second body of decemvirs was chosen to write the 
rest of the laws. The senate, finding them favorable to the 
plebeians, forced the decemvirs to resign, introduced into 
the two remaining tables regidations obnoxious to the com- 
mon people, and then endeavored to restore the consular 
government without the tribuneship. The plebs a second 
time seceded to the Sacred Mount, and the senate w^as forced 
to reinstate the tribunes. ^ 

The Laws of the Twelve Tables remained as the 
gi-and result of the decem\dral legislation. They were 
engraved on blocks of brass or ivory, and hung up in the 

1 The account of this transactiou giveu in Livj's Historj' is doubtless largely 
legendary. Tlie stoiy runs as follows: Tliree ambassadors were appointed to visit 
Athens (this was during the " Age of I'ericles"), and examine the laws of Solon. On 
their return the decemvirs were chosen. They were to be supreme, and the consuls, 
tribunes, etc., resigned. Tlie new rulers did admirably dunng one term, and com- 
pleted ten tables of excellent laws that were adopted by the A.ssembly of Centuries. 
Decemvirs were therefore chosen for a second term. Appius Claudius was the most 
popular of the first bodj- of decemvirs, and tlie only one reelected. Now all was 
quickly changed ; the ten men became at once odious tyrants, and Appius Claudius 
chief of all. Each of the decemvirs was attended by twelve lictors, bearing the 
fasces with the axes wherever he went in public. Two new tables of oppressive laws, 
confirming the patricians in their hated privileges, were added to the former tables. 
When the 5'ear expired the decemvirs called no new election, and held their office in 
defiance of the senate and the people. Xo man's life was safe, and many leading 
persons fled from Rome. The crisis soon came. One day, seeing a beautiful maiden, 
the daughter of a plebeian named Virginias, crossing the Forum, Claudius resolved 
to make her his own. So he directed a client to seize her on the charge that she was 
the child of one of his slaves, and then to bring the case before the decemvirs for 
trial. Claudius, of course, decided in favor of his client. Thereupon Viiginius drew 
his daughter one side from the judgment-seat as if to bid her farewell. Suddenly 
catching up a butcher's knife from a block near by, he plunged it into his daughter's 
heart, crying, " Thus only can I make thee free ! " Then brandishing the red blade, 
he liastened to the c.imp and roused the soldiers, who marched to the city, breatliijig 
vengeance. As over the body of the injured Liicretia, so again over the corpse of the 
spotless Virginia, thepojuiliice swore that Utmie should be free. The plel»eians flocked 
out once more to the Sacred Mount. Tlie decemvirs were forced to resign. The 
tribunes and consuls were restored to power. Appius, in despair, committed suieid*-. 
(The version of this stoiy given in the text above is that of Ihne, the great Gerniat 
critic, in his new work on Early Rome.) 



218 ROME. [451 B.C. 

Forum, where all could read them. Henceforth they con- 
stituted the foundation of the written law of Rome, and 
every schoolboy, as late as Cicero's time, learned them by 
heart. 

Continued Triumph of the Plebs. — Step by step the 
plebeians pushed their demand for equal privileges with 
the patricians. First the Valerian and Horatian decrees 
(449 B. c), so called from the consuls who prepared them, 
made the resolutions passed by the plebeians in the Assembly 
of the Tribes binding equally upon the patricians. Next 
the Canuleian decree (445 b. c.) abolished the law against in- 
termarriage. The patricians, finding that the plebeians were 
likely to get hold of the consulship, compromised by abol- 
ishing that office, and by choosing, through the Assembly of 
Centuries, from patricians and plebeians alike, three military 
tribunes with consnlar powers. But the patricians did not 
act in good faith, and by innumerable arts managed to cir- 
cumvent the plebs, so that during the next fifty years (until 
400 B. c.) there were twenty elections of consuls instead of 
military tribunes, and when mihtary tribunes were chosen 
they were always patricians. Meanwhile they also secured 
the appointment of censors, to be chosen from their ranks 
exclusively, Avho took the census, classified the people, and 
supervised public morals. Thus they constantly strove to 
offset the new plebeian power. So vindictive was the strug- 
gle that the nobles did not shrink from murder to remove 
promising plebeian candidates.^ Bnt the plebs held firm, 

1 Thus the Fabii a powerful patrician house, having taken the side of the plebs, 
and fimling that thej^ could not thereafter live in peace at Rome, left the citj% and 
founded an outpost on the Cremera, below Veii, where they could still serve their 
country. This little body of three hundred and six soldiers— including the Fabii, their 
clients and dependants— sustained for two years the full brunt of the Veientine war. 
At length they were enticed into an ambuscade, and all were slain except one little 
boy, the ancestor of the Fabius afterward so famous. During the massacre the con- 
sular army was near by, but patrician hate would not permit a rescue. 

Again, during a severe famine at Home (440 u. c), a rich plcbeiau, named 8purius 



3G7B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 219 

and liiially secured the iaiiious Liciuiaii Ro(j<ition (8(57 H. c), 
which ordered, — 

I. That, in case of debts on which interest had been met, the sum of tlio interest 
paid should be deducted from tlic principal, and the remainder become due in three 
successive years. (This bankrupt law was designed to aid the poor, now overwhelmed 
with debt, and so in the power of the rich creditor.) 

II. That no citizen should hold more than live hundred jugera (about three hun- 
dred and twenty acres) of the public land, and should not feed on the public pastures 
more than a limited number of cattle, under penalty of fine. 

III. That henceforth consuls, not consular tribunes, should be elected, and tliat 
one of the two consuls must be plebeian. 

IV. That instead of two patricians being chosen to keep the Sibylline books (p. 209), 
there should be ten men, taken eqiially from both orders. 

For years after its passage the patricians struggled to pre- 
vent the decree from going into effect. But the common 
people finally won. They never lost the gi'ound they had 
gained, and secured, in rapid succession, the dictatorship, the 
censorship, the pragtorship, and (300 B. c.) the right to be 
pontiff and augur. Rome at last, nearly two centuries 
after the republic began, possessed a democratic govern- 
ment. "Civil concord," says Weber, "to which a temple 
was dedicated at tliis time, brought with it a period of civic 
virtue and heroic greatness." 

Wars with Neighboring Tribes. — While this long 
civil contest was raging wdthin the w^alls of Rome, her 
armies were fighting without, striving to regain her lost 
supremacy over Latium, and sometimes for the very exist- 
en(^e of the city. There was a constant succession of wars - 



MfElius, sold grain to the poor at a very low rate. The patricians, finding that he 
was likely to be a successful candidate for office, accused him of wishing to be king, 
and as he refused to appear before his enemies for trial, Ahala, the master of 
horse, slew him in the Forum with his own hand. 

1 Various beautiful legends cluster around these eventful wars, and they have 
attained almost the dignity, though we cannot tell how much thej' contain of the 
truth, of historj'. 

COKlOLANUS.— W^hile the Romans were besieging Corioli, the Volscians made a 
sally, but were defeated. In the eagerness of the pursuit, Caius Maicius followed the 
enemy inside the gates, which were closed upcm him. But with his good sword he 
hewed his way back, and let in the Romans. So the city was taken, and the hero 



220 



ROME. 



[390 B. 0. 



with the Latins, JEquians, Volscians, Etruscans, Veientes, 
and Samnites. Connected with these wars are the names, 
famous in Roman legend, of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and 
Camillus. 

The Gallic Invasion. — In the midst of these contests 
a horde of Gauls crossed the Apennines, and spread like a 
devastating flood over central Italy. Rome was taken, and 
nearly all the city burned (390 B. c). The invaders con- 

leceived the naine Coriolanus. Afleiward tliere was a famine at Rome, and, grain 
arriving from Sicily, Cains would not sell any to the plebs unless they would submit 
to tlie patricians. Thereupon the tribunes sought to bring him to trial, but he lied, 
and took refuge among the Volsci. Soon after, he returned at the head of a great 
army, and laid siege to Rome. The city was in peril. As a final resort, his mother, 
wife, and children, with many of the chief, women, clad in the deepest mourning, 
went forth and fell at his feet. Unable to resist their entreaties, Coriolanus ex- 
claimed, " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost tliy .son." Having given the order 
to retreat, he is said to have been slain by the angry Volsci. 




CINX-INNATUS RECEIVINli TUli LllCTA lOUSIlU'. 



CINCINNATUS.— One day news came that the ^(luians had surrounded tlie consul 
Minucius and his army in a deep valley, whence they could not escape. Tlie cmly one 
in Rome deemed fit to meet this emergency was Titus Quinctius, sunuimed Cincin- 
natus (the Curly-haired), who was now declared dictator. The officers who went to 



390 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. ZZl 

sented to retire only on tlie payment of a heavy ransom. 
So deep an impression was made upon the Romans by the 
size, strength, courage, and enormous number of tliese bar- 
barians, that they thenceforth called a war with the Gauls 
a tumult^ and kept in the treasury a special fund for su(;h a 
catastrophe. 

The Final Effect of all these wars was beneficial to 
l\onie. The plebeians, who formed the strength of her 
army, frequently carried their point against the patricians 
by refusing to fight until they got theu' rights. These long 
-struggles, too, matured the Roman energy, and developed 

announce his appointment found liim plowing on his little farm of four acres, 
which he tilletl himself. He called for his toga, that lie might receive the commands 
of the senate with due resi)ect, when he was at once hailed dictator. Repairing to 
tlie city, he assembled fresh tioops, bidding each man carry twelve wooden stakes. 
That very night he surrounded the ^quians, dug a ditch, and made a palisade about 
tlieir camp. Minucius, hearing the Roman war-cry, rushed up and fell upon th© 
enemj' with all his might. When day broke, the yEquians found themselves hemmed 
in, and were forced to surren<ler and to pass under the j-oke. Ciucinnatus, on hi8 
return, was awarded a golden crown. Having saved his country, he resigned his 
office and went back to his plow again, content witli the quiet of his rustic home. 

THE Siege of Veii— tlie Troy of Roman legend— lasted ten years. Before that 
the Roman wars consisted mainly of mere foraj-s into an enemy's country. Now the 
troops remained summer and winter, and for the first time received regular pay. In 
the seventh year of the siege, Lake Albanu.s, though in the heat of summer, over- 
flowed its banks. Tlie Delphic oracle declared tliat Veii would not fall until the lake 
was dried up, whereupon the Roman army cut a tunnel tlirough the solid rock to 
convey tlie surplus water over the neighboring fields. Still the citj' did not yield. 
Camillus, having been appointed dictator, dug a passage under the wall. One day the 
king of Veii was about to offer a sacrifice, when the soothsayer told him that the city 
should belong to him who slew the victim. The Romans, who were beneath, heard 
these words, and, forcing their way through, hastened to the shrine, and Camillus 
completed the sacrifice. The gates were thrown open, and the Roman army, rushing 
in, overpowered all opposition. 

The City of Faleuii had aided the Veientes. When Camillus, bent on revenge, 
appeared before the place, a schoolmaster secretly brought into the Roman camp his 
pupils, the children of the chief men of Falerii. Camillus, scorning to receive the 
traitor, tied his hands behind his back, and, giving whips to the boys, bade them flog 
their master back into the city. The Falerians, moved by such magnanimity, sur- 
rendered to the Romans. Camillus entered Rome in a chariot drawn by white horses, 
and I'.aving his face colored with vermilion, as was the custom when the gods were 
borne in procession. Unfortunately, he offended the plebs by ordering each man to 
restore one tenth of his booty for an oflfering to Apollo. He was accused of pride, 
and of appropriating to his own use the bronzt^ gates of Veii. Forced to leave the 
city, he went out praying that Rome might yet need his help. That time soon came. 
Five years after, the Gauls defeated the Romans at 

The RIVEK ALLIA, where the slaughter was so great that the anniversary of the 



222 ROME. [390 b. c. 

the Roman character in all its stern, nnfeeling, and yet 
heroic strength. 

After the Gallic invasion Rome was soon rebuilt. The sur- 
rounding nations having suffered still more severely from 
the northern barbarians, and the Gauls being now looked 
upon as the common enemy of Italy, Rome came to be con- 
sidered the common defender. The plebs, in rebuilding 
their ruined houses and buying tools, cattle, and seed, were 
reduced to greater straits than ever before (unless after the 
expulsion of the Etruscan kings) ; and to add to their bur- 
dens a double tribute was imposed by the government, in 

battle became a black day in the Roman calendar. The wreck of the army took refuge 
in Veil. The people of Rome fled for their lives. Tlie young patricians garrisoned 
the citadel; and the graj^-haired senators, devoting themselves as an offering to the 
gods, ljut on their robes, and, sitting in their ivory chairs of magistracy, awaited 
death. The barbarians, hurrying through the deserted streets, at length came to the 
Forum. For a moment tliey stood amazed at the sight of those solemn figures. Then 
one of the Gauls put out his hand reverently to stroke the white beard of an aged 
senator, when the indignant Roman, revolting at the profanation, felled him with his 
staff. The spell was broken, aud tlie senators were ruthlessly massacred. 

The Siege of the Capitol lasted for montlis. One night a party of Gauls clambered 
up the steep ascent, and one of them reached the highest ledge of the rock. Just 
then some sacred geese in the Temple of Juno began to cry and flap their wings. 
Marcus Manlius, aroused by the noise, rushed out, saw the peril, and dashed the 
foremost Gaul over the precipice. Other Romans rallied to his aid, and the imminent 
peril was arrested. Finally the Gauls, weary of the siege, offered to accept a ran- 
som of a thousand pounds of gold. This sum was raised from the temi)le treasures 
and the ornaments of the Roman women. As they were weighing the articles, the 
Romans complained of the scales being false, when Brennus, the Gallic chief, threw 
in his heavy sword, insolently exclaiming, "Woe to the vanquished!" At that 
moment Caniillus strode in at the head of an army, crying, " Rome is to be bought 
with iron, not gold! " drove out the enemy, and not a man escaped to tell how low 
the city had fallen on that eventful daj\ When the Romans returned to their devas- 
tated homes, they were at first of a mind to leave Rome, and occupy the empty dwell- 
ings of Veil ; but a lucky omen prevailed on them to remain. Just as a senator was 
rising to speak, a centurion relieving guard gave the command, " Plant your colors ; 
this is the best place to stay in." Tlie senators ruslied forth, shouting, " The gods 
have spoken ; we obey ! " The people caught the enthusiasm, and cried out, " Rome 
forever ! " 

Marcus Manlius, who saved the Capitol, befriended the people in the distress 
which followed the Gallic invasion. One day, seeing a soldier dragged off to prison 
for debt, he paid the amount and released the man, at the same time swearing that 
while he had any property left, no Roman sliould be imprisoned for debt. The patri- 
cians, jealous of his influence among the plebs, accused him of wishing to become 
king. He was brought to trial in the Campus Martins ; but the hero pointed to the 
spoils of thirty warriors whom he had slain; forty distinctions won in battle; his 
innumerable scars ; and, above all, to the Capitol he had saved. His enemies, finding 



396 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 228 

order to rcphi(!e the sacred ^old used to Yniy off tlie Gauls. 
But this very misery soon led to the Licinian Rogations 
(p. 219), and so to the growth of liberty. Thus the plebs 
got a consul twenty-four years after the Gauls left, just as 
they got the tribunes fifteen years after the Etruscans left ; 
the succeeding ruin both times being followed by a triumph 
of democracy. 

The Capture of Veil (396 B. c.) gave the Romans a foothold 
beyond the Tiber ; and, only three years after the Gallic in- 
vasion, four new tribes, carved out of the Veientine land, 
were added to the republic. 

a conviction in that place impossible, adjourned to a grove where the Capitol could 
not be seen, and there the man who had saved Rome was sentenced to death, and at 
once hurled from the Tarpeiau Rock. 

QuiNTUS CUKTius.— Not loug after the Licinian Rogations were passed, Rome 
was alflictedby aplague, in which Camillas died; by an overflow of the Tiber; and 
by an earthquake, which opened a great chasm in the Forum. The augurs de- 
clared that the gulf would not close until there were cast into it the most precious 
treasures ; whereupon Quiutus Curtius mounted his horse, and, riding at full speed, 
leaped into the abyss, declaring that Rome's best treasures were her brave men. 

Thk Battle of Mount Vesuvius (340 b. c.) was the chief event of the Latin 
war. Prior to this engagement the consul Manilas ordered that no one should quit 
his post under pain of death. But his own son, provoked by the taunts of a Tusculau 
oflBoer, left the ranks, slew his opponent in single combat, and brought the bloody 
spoils to his father. The stern parent ordered him to be at once belieaded by the 
lictor, in the presence of the army. During the battle which followed, the Romans 
were on the point of yielding, when Decius, the plebeian consul, who had promised, 
in case of defeat, to offer himself to the infernal gods, fulfilled his vow. Calling the 
pontifex maximus, he repeated the form devoting the foe and liimself to death, and 
then, wrapping his toga about him, leaped upon his horse, and dashed into the thickest 
of the fight. His death inspired the Romans with fresh hope, and scarce one fourth 
of the Latins escaped from that bloody field. 

Battle of the Caudine Forks.— During the second Samnite war there arose 
among the Samnites a famous captain named Caius Pontius. By a stratagem he en- 
ticed the Roman army into the Caudine Forks, in the neighborhood of Caudium. High 
mountains here inclose a little plain, having at each end a passage through a narrow 
defile. When the Romans were fairly in the basin, the Samnites suddenly appeared 
in both gorges, and forced the consuls to surrender with four legions. Pontius, having 
sent liis prisoners under the yoke, furnished them with wagons for the wounded, and 
food for their journey, and then released them on certain conditions of peace. The 
senate refused to ratify the terms, and ordered the consuls to be delivered up to the 
Samnites, but did not send back the soldiers. Pontius replied that if the senate would 
not make peace, then it should place tlie army back in the Caudine Forks. The 
Romans, who rarely scrupled at any conduct that promised their advantage con- 
tinued the war. But when, twenty-nine years later, Pontius was captured by Fabius 
Maximus, that brave Samnite leader was disgracefully put to death as the triumphal 
chariot of the victor ascended to the Capitol. 



224 ROME. [337 B.C. 

The final result of the Latin war (340-338 B. c.) was 
to dissolve the old Latin League,^ and to merge the cities of 
Latium, one by one, into the Roman state. 

The three Sat)nufe wars (343-290 b. c.) occupied half a 
centmy, with brief intervals, and were most obstinately 
contested. The long-doubtful struggle cidminated at the 
gi*eat battle of Sentinimi, in a \dctory over the combined 
Samnites, Gaids, and Greek colonists. Samnium became a 
subject-ally. Rome was now mistress of central Italy. 

War with Pyrrhus (280-276 b. c.).— The rich city 
of Tarentum, in southern Italy, had not joined the Samnite 
coalition. Rome had therefore made a treaty with her, 
promising not to send ships of war past the Lacinian Prom- 
ontory. But, having a garrison in the friendly city of Thurii, 
the senate ordered a fleet to that place ; so one day, while the 
people of Tarentum were seated in their theater witnessing 
a play, they suddenly saw ten Roman galleys sailing upon 
the forbidden waters. The audience in a rage left their 
seats, rushed down .to the shore, manned some ships, and, 
pushing out, sank four of the Roman squadron. The senate 
sent ambassadors to ask satisfaction. They reached Taren- 
tum, so says the legend, during a feast of Bacchus. Postu- 
mius, the leader of the envoys, made so many mistakes in 
talking Greek, that the people laughed aloud, and, as he was 
leaving, a buffoon threw mud upon his white toga. The 
shouts only increased when Postumius, holding up his soiled 
robe, cried, ''This shall be washed in torrents of your 
blood ! " War was now inevitable. Tarentum,^ unable to 



1 The Latin League (p. 216) was tlissolved in the same year (338 b. c.) with tlie 
battle of Chjeronea (p. 149). 

2 The Greek colonists retained the pride, though they had lost the simplicity, of 
their ancestors. Tliey were effeminate to the last degree. *' At Tarentum there weie 
not enough days in the calendar on which to hold the festivals, and at Sybaris they 
killed all the cocks lest they should disturb the iuhabitauts in their sleep." 



280 B. C] THE I>Oi.rnCAL HISTORY. 225 

resist the " barbarians of the Tiber," appealed to tlie mother 
eouutry for help. Pyi-rhus, King of Epirus, came over with 
twenty-five thousand soldiers and twenty elephants. For 
the fii'st time the Roman legion (p. 271) met the dreaded 
Macedonian phalanx. In vain the Roman soldiers sought 
to break through the l)ristling hedge, with their swords 
hewing off the pikes, and with their hands bearing them 
to the gi-ound. To complete their discomfiture, Pyrrhus 
launched his elephants upon their weakened ranks. At 
the sight of that '^ new^ kind of oxen," the Roman cavahy 
fled in dismay. 

PyiThus won a second battle in the same way. He then 
crossed over into Sicily to help the Greeks against the Car- 
thaginians. When he returned, two years later, while at- 
tempting to surprise the Romans by a night attack, his 
troops lost their way, and the next morning, when weary 
with the march, they w^ere assailed by the enemy. The 
once-dreaded elephants were frightened back by fire-brands, 
and driven through the Grecian lines. Pyi-rhus was defeated, 
and, having lost nearly all his army, returned to Epirus. ^ 
The Greek colonies, deprived of his help, w^ere subjugated in 
rapid succession. 

1 Many romautic incidents are told of this war. As Pyrrhns walked over the 
battle-fieM and saw the Romans lying all with wounds in front, and their countenances 
stern In death, he cried out, "With such soldiers I could conquer the world!"— 
Ciueas, whom Pyrrhus sent to Rome as an ambassador, returned, saying, " The city is 
like a temple of tlie gods, and the senate an assembl}-- of kings." Fabricius, who 
came to Pyrrhus's camp on a .similar mission, was a sturdy Roman, who worked his 
own farm, and loved integrity and honor more than aught else, save his country. 
The Grecian leader was surprised to find in this haughty barbarian tliat same great- 
ness of soul that liad once made the Hellenic cliaracter so famous. He offered him 
" more gold than Rome had ever possessed" if he would enter his service, but Fabri- 
cius replied that "poverty, with a good name, is better than wealth." Afterward 
the physician of Pyrrhus offered to poison the king; but tlie indignant Roman sent 
back the traitor in irons. Pyrrlius, not to be outdone in j-enerosity, .set free all his 
captives, saying tliat "it was ea.sier to turn the sun from its course than Fabricius 
from the path of honor."— Deutatus, the consul wlio defeated Pyrrhus, was offered 
by the grateful senate a tract of land. He replied that he already had seven acres, 
and that was sufficient for any citizen. 
B Q H— 14 



226 ROME. [265 B.C. 

Rome ivas now 7m stress of peninsular Italy. She was ready 
to begin her grand career of foreign conquest. 

The Roman Government in Italy was that of one city 
supreme over many cities. Rome retained the rights of de- 
claring war, making peace, and coining money, but permitted 
her subjects to manage then- local affairs. All were required 
to furnish soldiers to fight under the eagles of Rome. There 
were three classes of inhabitants, — Roman citizens , Latins^ 
and Italians. The Roman citizens were those who occupied 
the territory of Rome proper, including others upon whom 
this franchise had been bestowed. They had the right to 
meet in the Forum to enact laws, elect consuls, etc. The 
Latins had only a few of the rights of citizenship, and the 
Italians or aUies none. As the power of Rome grew, Roman 
citizenship acquired a might and a meaning (Acts xxii. 25 ; 
xxiii. 27 ; xxv. 11-21) which made it eagerly sought by every 
person and city ; and the prize constantly held out, as a 
reward for special service and devotion, was that the ItaUan 
could be made a Latin, and the Latin a Roman. 

The Romans were famous road-builders, and the gi-eat 
national highways which they constructed throughout their 
territories did much to tie them together (p. 282). By 
their use Rome kept up constant communication with all 
parts of her possessions, and could quickly send her legions 
wherever wanted. 

A portion of the land in each conquered state was given 
to Roman colonists. They became the patricians in the 
new city, the old inhabitants counting only as plebs. Thus 
little Romes were built aU over Italy. The natives looked 
up to these settlers, and, hoping to obtain similar rights, 
quickly adopted their customs, institutions, and language. 
So the entire peninsula rapidly assumed a uniform national 
character. 



264 b. 0.] THE POLITICAL HISTOKY. 227 



THE rUNIC WARS. 

Carthage (p. 76) was now the great naval and colonizing 
power of the western Mediterranean. She had established 
some settlements in western Sicily, and these were almost 
constantly at war with the Greeks on the eastern coast. As 
Sicily lay between Carthage and Italy, it was natnral that 
two such aggressive powers as the Carthaginians and the 
Romans should come to blows on that island. 

First Punic War (264-241 b. c). — Some pirates seized 
Messana, the nearest city to Italy, and, being threatened by 
the Carthaginians and the Syracusans, asked help of Rome, 
in order to retain their ill-gotten possessions. On this 
wretched pretext an army was sent into Sicily. The Car- 
thaginians were driven back, and Hiero, king of Syracuse, 
was forced to make a treaty with Rome. Agrigentum, an 
important naval depot belonging to Carthage, was then cap- 
tured, in spite of a large army of mercenary soldiers which 
the Carthaginians sent to its defense. 

Rome^s First Fleet (260 b. c.).^ — The Roman senate, not 
content with this success, was bent on contesting with Car- 
thage the supremacy of the sea. One hundred and thirty 
vessels were accordingly built in sixty days, a stranded 
Phoenician galley being taken as a model. To compensate 
the lack of skilled seamen, the -ships were provided with 
drawbridges, so that coming at once to close quarters their 
disciplined soldiers could rush upon the enemies' deck, and 
decide the contest by a hand-to-hand fight. They thus beat 

1 From punicus, an adjective derived from Pa'iii, the Latin form of tlie word 
PhceuiciaiKS. 

2 The Romans 1)ogan to construct a fleet as early as 338 B. c, and in 267 we read 
of the qviestors of tlic navy ; but the ves.sols were small, and Homo was a land-power 
until 260 B. c. 



256 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 229 

the Carthaginians in two great naval battles within four 
years. 

Romans cross the Sea. — Under Regulus the Romans then 
crossed the Mediterranean, and '^ carried the war into Africa." 
The natives, weary of the oppressive rule of the Carthagin- 
ians, welcomed their deliverers. Carthage seemed about to 
fall, when the presence of one man turned the tide. Xan- 
thippus, a Spartan general, led the Carthaginians to victory, 
destroyed the Roman army, and captured Regulus.^ 

After this the contest dragged on for several years ; but a 
signal victory near Panormus, in Sicily, gave the Romans 
the ascendency in that island, and finally a great naval defeat 
off the ^gu^sae Islands cost the Carthaginians the empire 
of the sea. 

affects. — Carthage was forced to give up Sicily, and pay 
thii-ty-two hundred talents of silver (about four million 
dollars) tow^ard tlie war expenses. The Temple of Janus 
was shut for the first time since the days of Numa (p. 207). 

Eome^s First Province was Sicily. This was governed, like 
all the possessions which she afterward acquired outside of 
Italy, by magistrates sent each year from Rome. The peo- 
ple, being made not allies but subjects, were required to pay 
an annual tribute. 

1 It is said that Regulus, wliile at tlic height of his success, asked permission to 
return home to his little farm, as a slave had run away with the tools, and his family 
was likely to suffer with want during his absence. After his capture, the Cartlia- 
ginians sent him to Rome with proposals of peace, making him swear to return in 
case the conditions were not accepted. On his arrival, he refused to enter the city, 
saying that he was no longer a Roman citizen, but only a Carthaginian slave. Having 
stated the terms of the proposed peace, to the amazement of all, ho urged their re- 
jection as unworthy of the glory and honor of Rome. Then, without visiting his 
home, he turned away from weeping wife and cliildrcn, and went back to his prison 
again. The enraged Carthaginians cut off his eyelids, and exposed him to the burn- 
ing rays of a tropic sun, and then thrust him into a barrel .studded with sharp nails. 
So perislied tliis martyr to his word and his country.— Historic research tlirows 
doubt on the truth of this instance of Punic cruelty, and asserts tliat the storj- was 
Invented to excuse the barbaritj' with wliicli tlie wife of Regulus treated some Car- 
thaginian captives who fell into her hands ; but the name of Regulus lives as the per- 
soniflcation of sincerity and patriotic devotion. 



230 ROME. [218 b. C. 

Second Punic War (218-201 b. c). — During the ensu- 
ing peace of twenty-three years, Haniilcar (surnamed Barca, 
lightning), the great statesman and general of Carthage, 
built up an empire in southern Spain, and trained an army 
for a new struggle with Rome. He hated that city mth a 
perfect hatred. When he left home for Spain, he took with 
him his son Hannibal, a boy nine years old, having first 
made him swear at the altar of Baal always to be the enemy 
of the Romans. That youthful oath was never forgotten, 
and Hannibal, like his father, had but one purpose, — to 
humble his country's rival. When twenty-six years of age, 
he was made commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army. 
Pushing the Punic power northward, he captm*ed Saguntum. 
As that city was her ally, Rome promptly declared war 
against Carthage.^ On the receipt of this welcome news, 
Hannibal, with the daring of genius, resolved to scale the 
Alps, and carry the contest into Italy. 

Invasion of Italy. — In the spring of the year 218 b. c. he 
set out ^ from New Carthage. Through hostile tribes, over 
the swift Rhone, he pressed forward to the foot of the Alps. 
Here dangers multiplied. The mountaineers rolled down 
rocks npon his column, as it wearily toiled up the steep as- 
cent. Snow blocked the way. At times the crack of a Avhip 
woidd bring down an avalanche from the impending heights. 
The men and horses slipped on the sloping ice-fields, and slid 
over the precipices into the awful crevasses. New roads had 
to be cut througli the sohd rock by hands benumbed with 

1 An embassy came to Carthage demandiug that Hannibal should be surrendered. 
This being refused, M. Fabius, folding up his toga as if it contained something, 
exclaimed, "I bring you peace or war; take Avhich you will!" The Cartliaginians 
answered, "Give us which you wish ! " Sliakingopen liis toga, the Roman haughtily 
replied, " I give j'ou war ! "— " So let it be ! " shouted the assembly. 

2 Before starting on this expedition, Hannibal went with his immediate attendants 
to Gades, and offered sacrifice in the temples for the success of the great work to 
which he had been dedicated eighteen years before, and to which he had been looking 
forward so long. 



218 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



231 



cold, and weakened by scanty rations. 
When at last he reached the smiling plains 
of Italy, only twenty-six thousand men were 
left of the one hundred and two thousand 
with whom he began the perilous march five 
months before. 




HANNIUAL CUOSSING THE ALPS. 

Battles of Tre'hia, 
Trasime'nus, and Can- 
nce. — Ai-riving at the 
river Trehia in Decem- 
ber, Hannibal found 
the Romans, under 
Sempronius, ready to 
dispute his progi'ess. 
One stormy morning, he sent the 
light Numidian cavaliy over to 



232 ROME. [218 b. o. 

make a feigned attaek cm the enemy's camp. Tlie Romans 
fell into the snare, and pnrsned the hoi'semen back across 
the river. When the legions, stiff with cold and faint 
with hunger, emerged from the icy waters, they found the 
Carthaginian army drawn up to receive them. Undismayed 
by the sight, they at once joined battle ;«but, in the midst 
of the struggle, Hannibal's brother Mago fell upon their 
rear with a body of men that had been hidden in a reedy 
ravine near by. The Romans, panic-stricken, broke and 
fled. 

The fierce Gauls now flocked to Hannibal's camp, and 
remained his active allies during the rest of the war. 

The next year Hannibal moved soutlnvard.^ One day in 
June, the consul Flaminius was eagerly pursuing him along 
the banks of Lalie Trasimemis. Suddenly, through the mist, 
the Carthaginians poured down from the heights, and put the 
Romans to rout.^ 

Fabius was now appointed dictator. Keeping on the 
heights where he could not be attacked, he followed Hanni- 
bal everywhere,^ cutting off his supplies, but never hazarding 
a battle. The Romans became impatient at seeing their 
country ravaged while their army remained inactive, and 
Varro, the consul, offered battle on the plain of Cannce. 
Hannibal di-ew up the Carthaginians in the shape of a half- 
moon having the convex side toward the enemy, and tipped 

1 In the low flooded grounds along tbe Aino the army suffered fearfully. Hanni- 
bal himself lost an eye by intlamniation, and tradition says that liis life was saved 
by the last remaining elephant, which carried him out of the swamp. 

2 So fierce was this struggle that none of the combatants noticed the shock of a 
severe earthquake which occurred in the midst of the battle. 

3 While Hannibal was ravaging the rich plains of Campania, the wary Fabius 
seized the passes of the Apennines, tlirough which Hannibal must recross into Sam- 
nium witli his booty. Tlie Carthaginian was apparently cauglit in the trap. But his 
mind was fertile in devices. He fastened torches to the horns of two thousand oxen, 
and sent men to drive them up the neighboring heights. The Romans at the defiles, 
thinking the Carthaginians were trying to escape over the hills, ran to the defense. 
Hannibal quickly seized the passes, and marched through with his army. 



216 b. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 233 



the horns of the crescent with his veteran cavalry. The 
massive legions quickly broke through his weak center. But 
as they pressed forward in eager pursuit, his terrible horse- 
men fell upon their rear. Hemmed in on all sides, the 
Romans could neither fight nor flee. Twenty-one tribunes, 
eighty senators, and over seventy thousand men, fell in that 
horrible massacre. After the battle, Hannibal sent to Car- 
thage over a peck of gold rings, — the ornaments of Roman 
knights. At Rome all was dismay. " One fifth of the cit- 
izens abla to bear arms had fallen Avithin eighteen months, 
and in every house there was mourning." All southern 
Italy, including Capua, the city next in importance to the 
capital, joined Hannibal. 

HannihaVs Be verses. — The tide of Hannibal's victories, 
how^ever, ebbed from this time. The Roman spirit rose in 
the hour of peril, and, while struggling at home for exist- 
ence, the senate sent armies into Sicily, Greece, and Spain. 
The Latin cities remained true, not one revolting to the Car- 
thaginians. The Roman generals had learned not to fight 
in the open field, where Hannibal's cavalry and genius Avere 
so fatal to them, but to keep behind walls, since Hannibal 
had no skill in sieges, and his army was too small to take 
their strongholds. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was busy 
fighting the Romans in Spain, and could send him no aid. 
The Carthaginians also were chary of Hannibal, and re- 
fused him help. 

For thirteen years longer Hannibal remained in Italy, but 
he was at last driven into Brutium, — the toe of the Italian 
boot. Never did his genius shine more brightly. He con- 
tinually sallied out to protect his allies, or to plunder and 
devastate. Once he went so near Rome that he hurled a 
javelin over its walls. Nevertheless, and in spite of his 
efforts, Capua was retaken. Syracuse promised aid, but was 



234 ROME. [212 B.C. 

captured by the Roman army.^ Hasdrubal finally managed 
to get out of Spain and cross the Alps, but at the 3£etaurus^ 
(207 B. c.) he was routed and slain. The first notice Hannibal 
had of his brother's approach was when Hasdrubal's head 
was thrown into the Carthaginian camp. At the sight of 
this ghastly memorial, Hannibal exclaimed, '' Ah, Carthage, 
I behold thy doom ! " 

Hannihal Recalled. — P. Scipio, who had already expelled 
the Carthaginians from Spain, now carried the war into 
Africa. Carthage was forced to summon her great general 
from Italy. He came to her defense, but met the first defeat 
of his life in the decisive battle of Zama. On that fatal field 
the veterans of the Italian wars fell, and Hannibal himself 
gave up the struggle. Peace was granted Carthage on her 
paying a crushing tribute, and agreeing not to go to war 
without the permission of Rome. Scipio received the name 
Africanus, in honor of his triumph. 

Fate of Hannihal. — On the return of peace, Hannibal, 
with singular wisdom, began the reformation of his native 
city. But his enemies, by false representations at Rome, 
compelled him to quit Carthage, and take refuge at the 
court of Anti'ochus (p. 237). When at length his patron 
was at the feet of their common enemy, and no longer able 
to protect him, Hannibal fled to Bithynia, where, finding 
himself still piu'sued by the vindictive Romans, he ended his 

1 Tlie siege of Syracuse (214-212 B. C.) is famous for the genius aisplayed in its 
defense by tlie mathematician Archimedes. He is said to have fired the Roman fleet 
1)y means of immense burning-glasses, and to have contrived machines that, reaching 
liuge arms over the walls, grasped and overturned the galleys. The Romans became 
so timid that they would " flee at tlie sight of a stick thrust out at them." When the 
city was finally taken by storm, Marcellus gave orders to spare Archimedes. But a 
soldier, rushing into the philosopher's study, found an old man, wlio, ignoring his 
drawn sword, bade him "Noli turbare circulos meos" (Do not disturb my circles). 
Enraged by his indifference, the Roman slew him on the spot. 

2 This engagement, which decided tlie issue of Hannibal's invasion of Italy, is 
reckoned among the most important in the history of the world (see Creasy's Fif- 
teen Decisive Battles, p. 96). 



183 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 235 

days by taking poison, which lie had carried about with 
him in a lioHow rin<^^ 

Third Punic War (149-14G b. c.).— Half a century 
passed, during- which Carthage was slowly recovering her 
former prosperity. A strong party at Rome, however, was 
bent upon her destruction.^ On a slight pretense war was 
again declared. The submission of the Carthaginians was 
abject. They gave up three hundred hostages, and surren- 
dered their arms and armor. But when bidden to leave the 
city that it might be razed, they were driven to desperation. 
Old and young toiled at the forges to make new weapons. 
Vases of gold and silver, even the statues of the gods, were 
melted. The women l)raided their long hair into bow-strings. 
The Romans intrusted the siege to the younger Scipio.^ He 
captured Carthage after a desperate struggle. Days of con- 
flagration and plunder followed. The city, which had lasted 
over seven hundred years and numbered seven hundred 
thousand inhabitants, was utterly wasted. The Carthaginian 
territory was turned into the province of Africa.^ 

1 Prominent among these was Cato the Censor. This rough, stern man, -with his 
red hair, projecting teeth, anrt coarse robe, was the swora foe to luxury, and the per- 
soniticatiou of the old Roman character. Cruel toward his slaves and revengeful 
toward his foes, he was yet rigid in morals, devoted to his country, and fearless in 
punishing crime. In the discharge.of his duty asceusor, rich furniture, jewels, and 
costly attire fell under his ban. He even removed, it is said, the cold-water pipes lead- 
ing to the private houses. Jealous of auy rival to Rome, he finished every speech 
with the words, " Delenda est Carthago!" (Carthage must be destroyed!) In 
Plutarch's Lives (p. 177), Cato is the counterpart of Aristides (p. 128). 

2 (1) Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (p. 234) was the conqueror of 
Hannibal. (2) Fitblius Cornelius Scipio ^Emiliantis Africanus Minor, the one spoken 
of in the text as the Destroyer of Carthage, was the sou of Lucius ^Emilius Paullus, 
the conqueror of Macedon (p. 236) ; he was adopted by P. Scipio, the son of Africanus 
Major. (3) Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, Avho defeated Antiochus (p. 237), and 
hence received his last title, was tlie brother of Africanus Major. 

3 When Scipio beheld the ruin of Carthage, he is said to have burst into tears, and, 
turning to Polybius the liistorian, to have quoted tlie lines of Homer,— 

" The day will come when Tr()y shall sink in fire. 
And Priam's people with himself expire,"— 
and, reflecting on the mutati(»U3 of time, to have declared tliat Hector's words might 
yet prove true of K<»me herself. 



236 ROME. [146 B.C. 

Rome was at last victor over her great rival. Events had 
decided that Europe was not to be given over to Punic civili- 
zation and the intellectual despotism of the East, 

Wars in Macedon and Greece. — While Hannibal 
was hard-pressed in Italy he made a treaty with Philip, king 
of Macedon, and a descendant of Alexander. In the First 
War which ensued (214-207 b. c), not much of importance 
occurred, but Rome had begun to mix in Grecian affaii's, 
which, according to her wont, meant conquest by and by. 

The Second War (200-197 B.C.) was brought about by 
Philip attacking the Roman allies. The consul Flaminius 
now entered Greece, proclaiming himself the champion of 
Hellenic liberty. Transported with this thought, nearly 
all Hellas ranged itseK under the eagles (p. 257) of Rome. 
Philip was overthrown at the battle of CijnoscepJialce 
(197 B. c), and forced to accept a most degrading peace. 

After Philip's death, his son Perseus was indefatigable in 
his efforts to restore Macedon to its old-time glory. 

The Third War (171-168 B. c.) cubninated in the battle 
of Pydna, where the famous Roman general Paullus van- 
quished forever the cumbersome phalanx, and ended the 
Macedonian monarchy. One hundred and fifty-six years 
after Alexander's death, the last king of Macedon was led 
in triumph by a general belonging to a nation of which, 
probably, the Conqueror had scarcely heard. 

The Results of these wars were reaped within a brief period. 
The Federal Unions of Greece were dissolved. Macedon was 
divided into four commonwealths, and finally, under pre- 
tense of a rebellion, made a Roman province (146 B. c). In 
the same year that Carthage fell, Corinth, i the gi'eat seaport 

1 Muiiimiiis, the consul who took Corinth, which Cicero termed "The rye of 
Hellas," sent its wealth of statiies and pictures to Rome. It is said, that, ignorant of 
the unique value of these works of art, he agreed with the captains of tlie vessels to 
furnish others in place of any they sliould lose on the voyage. One can hut remem- 



THE lM)TiT'ri('ATi HISTOlCV. 237 

of the eastern Mediterraiieaii, wim .sa<*k<Ml, and (rrecce hrr- 
self, after })eing aninsed for a time with tlie senibhince of 
freedom, was organized into the province of Achaia. 

Syrian War (192-190 b. c). — ''Macedon and Greece 
proved easy stepping-stones for Rome to meddle in the affaii's 
of Asia." At this time Antiochns the Great governed the 
kingdom of the Seleucida? (p. 155), which extended from 
the JEgean beyond the Tigris. His capital, Antioch, on the 
Orontes, was the seat of Greek culture, and one of the chief 
cities of tlie world. He was not unwilling to measure 
swords with the Romans, and received Hannibal at his court 
with marked honor. During the interval between the 
second and third Macedonian wars the ^Etolians, thinking 
themselves l)adly used l>y the Romans, invited Antiochns to 
come over to their help. He despised the wise counsel and 
military skill of Hannil)al, and, appearing in Greece with 
only ten thousand men, was easily defeated by the Romans 
at ThernwpijM. The next year, L. 8cipio (note, p. 235) fol- 
lowed him into Asia, and overthrew liis power on the field 
of Magnesia (190 b. c). 

The great empire of the Seleucidaa now shrank to the 
kingdom of Syria. Though the Romans did not at present 
assume formal control of their conquest, yet, by a shrewd 
policy of weakening the powerful states, playing off small 
ones against one another, supporting one of the two rival fac- 
tions, and favoring their allies, they taught the Greek cities 
in Asia Minor to look up to the great central power on the 
Tiber just as, by the same tortuous course, they had led 
Greece and Macedon to do. Thus the Romans aided Per- 
gamus, and enlarged its territories, because its king helped 
them against Antiochns; and in return, when Attains HI. 

ber, however, that this ignoraut plebeian luaintaiuert his houesty, aud kept uoiie of 
the rich spoils for himself 



238 ROME. [133 b. C. 

died, he be(ineathed to them his kingdom. Rome thus ac- 
quired her first Asiatic province (133 b. c). 

War in Spain. — After the capture of Carthage and 
Corinth, Rome continued her efforts to subdue Spain. The 
rugged nature of the country, and the bravery of the inhab- 
itants, made the struggle a doubtful one. The town of 
Mimantia held out long against the younger Scipio (note, 
p. 235). Finally, in despair, the people set fire to the place, 
and threw themselves into the flames. When the Romans 
forced an entrance through the walls, they found silence and 
desolation within. Spain thus became a Roman province 
the same year that Attains died, and thirteen years after 
the fall of Carthage and Corinth. 

The Roman Empire (133 b. c.) now included southern 
Europe from the Atlantic to the Bosporus, and a part of 
northern Africa ; while Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor were 
practically its dependencies. The Mediterranean Sea was a 
''Roman lake," and Rome tvas mistress of the civilized tvorld. 
Henceforth her wars were principally with barbarians. 

Effect of these Conquests. — Italy had formerly been 
covered with little farms of a few acres each, which the in- 
dustrious, frugal Romans cultivated with their ow^n hands. 
When Hannibal swept the country with fii^e and sword, he 
destroyed these comfortable rural homes throughout entire 
districts. The people, unable to get a living, flocked to 
Rome. There, humored, flattered, and fed by every dema- 
gogue who wished their votes, they sank into a mere mob. 
The Roman race itself was fast becoming extinct.^ It had 

1 "At the time wheu all the kings of the earth paid homage to the Roman.s, this 
people was becomiug extinguished, consumed by the double action of eternal war, 
and of a devouring system of legislation ; it was disappearing from Italy. The Ro- 
man, passing his life in camps, beyond the seas, rarely returned to visit his little field. 
He had in most cases, indeed, no land or shelter at all, nor any other domestic gods 
than the eagles of the legions. An exchange was becoming established between Italy 
and the provinces. Italy sent her children to die in distant lands, and received in 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 239 

perished on its hundred battle-fields. Rome was inhabited 
by a motley population from all lands, who poorly filled the 
place of her ancient heroes. 

The captives in these various wars had been sold as slaves, 
and the nobles, who had secured most of the land, worked it 
by their unpaid labor. Everywhere in the fields were gangs 
of men whose only crime was that they had fought for their 
homes, tied together with chains ; and tending the flocks were 
gaunt, shaggy wretches, carrying the goad in hands that had 
once wielded the sword. 

The riches of Syracuse, Carthage, Macedonia, Greece, and 
Asia poured into Rome. Men who went to foreign wars 
as poor soldiers came back with enormous riches, — the 
spoils of sacked cities. The nobles were rich beyond every 
dream of republican Rome. But meanwhile the poor grew 
poorer yet, and the curse of poverty ate deeper into the 
state. 

A few wealthy families governed the senate and filled all 
the offices. Thus a new nobility, founded on money alone, 
had grown up and become all-powerful. It was customary 
for a candidate to amuse the people with costly games, and 
none but the rich could afford the expense. The consul, at 
the end of his year of office, was usually appointed governor 
of a province, where, out of an oppressed people, he could 
recompense himself for all his losses. To keep the Roman 
populace in good humor, he would send back gifts of gi-ain, 
and, if any complaint were nuide of his injustice and robbery, 
he could easily bribe the judges and senators, who were 
anxious only for the same chance which he had. 

compensation millions of slaves. Thus a new people succeeded to tlie absent or 
destroj-ed Roman ))eople. Slaves took the place of masters, pi"oudly occupied the 
Fonim, and in their fantastic saturnalia goveiued, by their decrees, the Latins and 
the Italians, who tilled the legions. It was soon no longer a question where were the 
plebeians of Rome. They had left tlieii- bones on every shore. Camps, urns, and 
immortal roads,— these were all that remained of them." —Michelet. 



240 



ROME. 



In the early days of the republic the soldier was a citizen 
who went forth to fight his country's battles^ and, returning 
home, settled down again upon his little farm, contented 
and happy. Military life had now become a profession. 
Patriotism was almost a forgotten virtue, and the soldier 
fought for plunder and glory. In the wake of the army 
followed a crowd of venal traders, who bought up the booty ; 
contractors, who "farmed" the revenues of the provinces; 
and usurers, who preyed on the necessities of all. These 
rich army-followers were known as knights {equites), since 
in the early days of Rome the richest men fought on horse- 
back. They rarely took part in any war, but only reaped 
its advantages. The presents of foreign kings were no 
longer refused at Rome 5 her generals 
and statesmen demanded money wher- 
ever they went. WeU might Scipio 
Africanus, instead of praying to the 




KOMAN SOLDIERS. 



THE POLITICAL HISTOKV. 241 

gods, as was the eustoin, to increase tlie state, implore tlieiu 
to presence it. 

Ill this general decadence the line iiiond lil)er of the nation 
lost its vigor. Fii'st the people left their own gods and took 
up foreign ones. As the ancients had no idea of one God 
for all nations, such a desertion of their patron deities 
was full of significance. It ended in a general skepticism 
and neglect of religious rites and worship. In addition, the 
Romans became cruel and unjust. Notliing showed this 
more clearly than their refusal to grant the Roman franchise 
to the Latin cities, which stood by them so faithfuUy during 
Hannibal's invasion. Yet there were great men in Rome, 
and the ensuing centuries were the palmiest of her history. 



THE CIVIL WARS. 

Now began a century of civil strife, during which the old 
respect for laws became weak, and parties obtained theii* end 
by bribery and bloodshed. 

The Gracchi. — The tribune Tiberius Gracchus,^ per- 
ceiving the peril of the state, secured a new agrarian law 
(p. 216), directing the public land to be assigned in small 
farms to the needy, so as to give every man a homestead ; 
and, in addition, he proposed to divide the treasures of 
Attains among those who received land, in order to enable 
them to build houses and buy cattle. But the oligarchs 
aroused a mob by wliich Gracchus was assassinated. 

1 Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius ami Cains Gracchus, was the daughter of Scipio 
Africanus the Elder (note, p. 235). Left a widow, she was offered marriage with tlio 
king of Egypt, but preferred to devote herself to the education of her children. 
When a rich friend once exhibited to her a cabinet of rare gems, she called in her 
two sons, saying, " Tliese are my jewels." Her statue bore the inscription by which 
she wished to be known, " The mother of the Gracchi."— Tiberius was the grandson 
of the Conqueror of Hannibal, the son-in-law of Appius Claudius, and the brother-in- 
law of the Destroyer of Carthage. 



242 ROME. [123 b. c. 

About ten years later his brother Caius tried to carry out 
the same reform by distributing grain to the poor at a 
nominal price (the "Roman poor-law"), by choosing juries 
from the knights instead of the senators, and by planting 
in conquered territories colonies of men who had no work 
at home. All went well until he sought to confer the 
Roman franchise upon the Latins. Then a riot was raised, 
and Caius was killed by a faithful slave to prevent his falling 
into the hands of his enemies. 

With the Gracchi perished the freedom of the republic ; 
henceforth the corrupt aristocracy was supreme. 

Jugurtha (118-104 b. c), having usurped the throne of 
Numidia, long maintained his place by conferring lavish 
bribes upon the senators. His gold conquered every army 
sent against him, and he declared that Rome itself could be 
had for money. He was finally overpowered by the consul 
Caius Marius,^ and, after adorning the victor's triumph at 
Rome, was thrown into the Mamertine Prison to perish.^ 

The Cimbri and Teutones (113-101 b. c), the van- 
guard of those northern hosts that were yet to overrun the 
empire, were now moving south, half a miUion strong, 
spreading dismay and ruin in their track. Six different Ro- 
man armies tried in vain to stay their advance. At Arausio 
alone eighty thousand Romans f eU. In this emergency, the 
senate appealed to Marius, who, contrary to law, was again 
and again reinstated consul. He annihilated the Teutones 
at Aquce Sextm (Aix) ; and, the next year, the Cimbri at 
Vercellce, where the men composing the outer line of the 

1 Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Roman questor (p. 243), captured Jugurtha by 
treachery. Claiming that he was the real hero of this war, he had a ring engraved 
which represented J ugurtha's surrender to liim. Marius and Sulla were henceforth 
bitter rivals. 

2 This famous dungeon is still shown tlie traveler at Kome. It is an underground 
vault, built of rough stones. The only opening is by a hole at the top. As Jugurtha, 
accustomed to the heat of an African sun, was lowered into this dismal grave, he 
exclaimed, with chattering teeth, "Ah, what a cold bath they are giving me 1 " 



101 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 243 

barbarian army were fastened together with chains, the whole 
making a solid mass three miles square. The Koman broad- 
sword mercilessly hewed its way through this struggling 
crowd. The Gallic women, in despair, strangled their 
childi-en, and then threw themselves beneath the wheels of 
their wagons. The very dogs- fought to the death. 

Rome was saved in her second great peril from barbarians. 
Marius was hailed as the " third founder of the city." 

Social War (90-88 b. c). — Drusus, a tribune, ha\dng 
proposed that the Itahans should be granted the coveted 
citizenship, was mm-dered the very day a vote was to be 
taken upon the measui'e. On hearing this, many of the 
Italian cities, headed by the Marsians, took up arms. The 
veteran legions, which had conquered the w^orld, now faced 
each other on the battle-field. The struggle cost three hun- 
dred thousand lives. Houses were burned and plantations 
wasted as in Hannibal's time. In the end, Rome was forced 
to aUow the Italians to become citizens. 

First Mithridatic War (88-84 b.c.).— Just before the 
close of this bloody struggle, news came of the massacre of 
eighty thousand Romans and Italians residing in the towns 
of Asia Minor. Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, and 
a man of remarkable energy and genius, had proclaimed 
himself the deliverer of Asia from the Roman yoke, and 
had kindled the fires of insurrection as far westward as 
Greece. The war against the Pontic monarch was confided 
to SuUa, who stood at the head of the Roman aristocracy. 
But Marius, the favorite leader of the people, by unscrupu- 
lous means wrested the command from his rival. There- 
upon Sulla entered Rome at the head of the army. For 
the first time, civil war raged within the walls of the city. 
Marius was driven into exile. ^ Sulla then crossed into 

1 Marias, after many romantic adventures, was thrown into prison at Min- 



244 ROME. I87B. 0. 

Greece. He carried on five campaignSj mainly at his private 
expense, and finally restored peace on the condition that 
Mithridates should give up his conquests and liis fleet. 

Return of Marius. — Meanwhile Cinna, one of the two 
consuls at Rome, recalled Marius, and together they entered 
the city with a body of men- composed of the very dregs of 
Italy. The nobles and the friends of Sulla trembled at this 
triumph of the democracy. Marius now took a fearful 
vengeance for all he had suffered. He closed the gates, and 
went about with a body of slaves, who slaughtered every 
man at whom he pointed his finger. The principal senators 
were slain. The high priest of Jupiter was massacred at the 
altar. The consul Octavius was struck down in his curule- 
chair. The head of Antonius, the orator, was brought to 
Marius as he sat at supper; he received it with joy, and 
embraced the murderer. Finally the monster had himself 
declared consul, now the seventh time. Eighteen days after, 
he died, " drunk with blood and wine^' (86 b. c). 

Sulla's Proscriptions. — Three years passed, when the 
hero of the Mithridatic war returned to Italy with his vic- 
torious army. His progress was disputed by the remains of 
the Marian party and the Samnites, who had not laid down 
their arms since the social war (p. 243). SuUa, however, 
swept aside their forces, and soon aU Italy was prostrate 
before him. It was now the turn for the plebeians and the 
friends of Marius to fear. As Sulla met the senate, cries 
were heard in the neighboring circus. The senators sprang 
from then* seats in alarm. SuUa bade them be quiet, remark- 

turnae. One day a Cimltriau slave entered his cell to put him to death. The old man 
turned upon him with tlasliiug eye, and shouted, "Barest thou kill Caius Marius!" 
The Gaul, ti'ightened at the voice of his nation's destroyer, dropped his sword and 
fled. Marius was soon sot free by the sympathizing people, whereupon he crossed 
into Africa. Receiving there an order from the prtetor to leave the province, he sent 
back the well-known reply, " Tell Sextilius that you have seen Caiua Marius sitting 
in exile among the ruins of Carthage." 



82 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 245 

ing, " It is only some wretches undergoing the punishment 
they deserve." The "wretches" were six thousand of the 
Marian party, who were butchered in cold blood. "The 
porch of Sulla's house/' says Collier, "was soon full of 
heads." Daily proscription-lists were made out of those 
doomed to die, and the assassins were rewarded from the 
property of their victims. Wealth became a crime when 
murder was gain. " Alas ! " exclaimed one, " my villa is my 
destruction." In all the disaffected Itahan cities the same 
bloody work went on. Wliole districts were confiscated to 
make room for colonies of SuUa's legions. He had himsdf 
declared perpetual dictator, — an office idle since the Punic 
wars (p. 232). He deprived the tribunes of the right to pro- 
pose laws, and sought to restore the " good old times " when 
the patricians held power, thus undoing the reforms of cen- 
turies. To the surprise of all, however, he suddenly retii-ed 
to private life, and gave himself up to luxurious ease. The 
civil wars of Marius and SuUa had cost Italy the lives of 
one hundred and fifty thousand citizens. 

Sertorius, one of the Marian party, betook liimseK to 
Spain, gained the respect and confidence of the Lusitanians, 
established among them a miniature Roman republic, and 
for seven years defeated every army sent against liim. Even 
Pompey the Great was held in check. Treachery at last 
freed Rome from its enemy, Sertorius being slain at a 
banquet. 

Gladiatorial War (73-71 b. c). — A party of gladiators 
under Spartacus, having escaped from a training-school at 
Capua, took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius. Thither 
flocked slaves, peasants, and pirates. Soon they were strong 
enough to defeat consular armies, and for three years to rav- 
age Italy from the Alps to the peninsula. Crassus finally, 
in a desperate battle, killed the rebel leader, and put his fol- 



246 ROME. [71 B.C. 

lowers to flight. A body of five thousand, trying to escape 
into Gaul, fell in with Pompey the Great as he was retm-ning 
from Spain, and were cut to pieces.^ 

Pirates in these troublous times infested the Mediter- 
ranean, so as to interfere with trade and stop the supply of 
provisions at Rome. The whole coast of Italy was in con- 
tinual alarm. Parties of robbers landing dragged rich pro- 
prietors from their villas, and seized high officials, to hold 
them for ransom. Pompey, in a brilliant campaign of 
ninety days, cleared the seas of these buccaneers. 

Great Mithridatic War (74-63 b. c.).— During Sulla's 
life the Roman governor in Asia causelessly attacked Mithri- 
dates, but being defeated, and Sulla peremptorily ordering 
him to desist, this Second Mithridatic War soon ceased. 
The Third or Great War broke out after the dictator's 
death. The king of Bithynia having bequeathed his pos- 
sessions to the Romans, Mithridates justly dreaded this ad- 
vance of his enemies toward his own boundaries, and took 
up arms to prevent it. The Roman consul, Lucullus, de- 
feated the Pontic king, and drove him to the com*t of his 
son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, who espoused his 
cause. Lucullus next overcame the allied monarchs. Mean- 
while this wise general sought to reconcile the Asiatics to the 
Roman government by legislative reforms, by a mild and 
just rule, and especially by checking the oppressive taxation. 
The soldiers of his own army, intent on plunder, and the 
equites at Rome deprived of their profits, were incensed, and 
secm-ed his recall. 

Pompe}^ was now granted the power of a dictator in the 
East.2 He made an alliance with the king of Parthia, thus 



1 "Crassus," said Pompey, "defeated the eueruy in battle, bxit I cut up tlie war by 
its roots." 

2 Cicero advocated this measure in the familiar oration, JPro Lege Manilla. .. 



65 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 247 

threatening Mitliridates by an enemy in the rear. Then, 
forcing the Pontic monarch into a battle, he defeated liim^ 
and at last di-ove him beyond the Cancasns. I^)mpey, re- 
tnrning, reduced Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. 

The spirit of Mithridates was unbroken, in spite of the 
loss of his kingdom. He was meditating a march around 
the Euxine, and an invasion of Italy from the northeast, 
when, alarmed at the treachery of his son, he took poison,' 
and died a victim of ingi-atitude. By his genius and courage 
he had maintained the struggle with the Romans for twenty- 
five years.i On reaching Rome, Ponipey received a two-days' 
triumph. Before his chariot walked three hundi^ed and 
twenty-f oui' captive princes ; and twenty thousand talents 
were deposited in the treasury as the spoils of conquest. 
Pompey was now at the height of his popularity, and might 
have usurped supreme power, but he lacked the energy and 
determination. 

Catiline's Conspiracy (63 b. c.).— Dm-ing Pompey's 
absence at the East, Catiline, an abandoned young noble- 
man, had formed a mdespread plot to miu-der the consuls, 
fire the city, and overthrow the government. Cicero, the 
orator, exposed the conspiracy 5 2 whereupon Catiline 'fled, 
and was soon after slain, fighting at the head of a band of 
desperadoes. 

The Chief Men of Rome now were Pompey, Crassus, 

.iivjr/™.r ^■'",^'\fi"«'^ "le gigantic frame of Mithriaates excited the wonder 
alike of Asiatic and Italian. As a runner, lie overtook the fleetest deer; as a rider 
he broke the wildest steed; as a charioteer, he drove sixteen-in-hand ; and as a 
hunter, he hi t his game with his horse at full gallop. He kept Greek poets, historians, 

drinker, but t., the n.ernest Jester and the best singer. He ruled the twenty-two 

and son;; "t T 1 "'?""' '"" "'' '" •'^" '"*«n>reter. He experimented on poisons, 
and sought to harden his system to their effect. One day he disappeared from the 

inlnZ Tlr" TT' '"'■ """""''• ''" '''' '■"'•"■"• '' '''••l'^^«'-«<^ '''^' ^'« ^^ad wandered 
incognito througli Asia Minor, studying the people and country. 

2 The orations which Cicero prono.inced at this time against Catiline are master- 
pieces of impassioned rhetoric, and are still stu.lied by every Latin scholar. 



248 



ROME. 



[60 B. c. 



Caesar,^ Cicero, and Cato 
the Stoic, — a great-grand- 
son of the Censor. The 
first three formed a league, 
known as the Trmmvirate 
(60 B. c). To cement this 
union, Pompey married 
Julia, Cesar's only daugh- 
ter. The triumvirs had 
everything their own way. 
Cassar was head manager ; 
he obtained the eonsul- 
r-AT.Tc T,TrT„« r .n-c*,, shlp, aud aftcrward an 

CAIUS JULIUS C^SAK. ^' 

appointment as governor 
of Gaul; Cicero was banished, and Cato sent to Cyprus. 




1 Caesar was born 100 B. c. (according to Mommsen, 102 u. c). A patrician, he waa 
yet a friend of the people. His aunt was married to Marius ; his wife Cornelia was the 
daughter of Cinna. During Sulla's proscription, he refused to divorce his wife at the 
bidding of the dictator, and only tlie intercession of powerful friends saved his life. 
Sulla detected the character of this youth of eighteen years, and declared, "There is 
more than one Marius hid in him." While on his way to Rhodes to study oratory, he 
was taken prisoner by pirates, but he acted more like tlieir leader than captive, and, on 
being ransomed, headed a party wliich crucitied them all. Having been elected pontiff 
during his absence at the East, he returned to Rome. He now became in succession 
quaestor, sedile, and pontif ex maximus. His affable manners and boundless generosity 
won all liearts. As jedile, a part of his duty was to furnish amusement to the people, 
and he exhibited three hundred and twenty pairs of glailiators, clad in silver armor. 
His debts became enormous, the lieaviest creditor being the rich Crassua, to w]u)m 
half the senators are said to have owed mimey. Securing an appointment as praetor, 
at the termination of tliat office, according to the custom, he obtained a province. 
Selecting Spain, he there recruited his wasted fortune, and gained some military 
prominence. He then came back to Rome, relinquishing a triumph in order to enter 
the city and stand for the consulship. This gained, his next step was to secure a field 
where he could train an army, by whose help he might become master of Rome. 

It is a strange sight, indeed, to witness this spendthrift, pale aud worn with the 
excesses of the capital, lighting at the head of his legions, swimming rivers, plunging 
through morasses, aud climbing mountains,— the hardiestof the hardy, and thebravest 
of tlie brave. But it is stranger still to think of this great general and statesman as a 
literary man. Even when riding in his litter or resting, he was still reading or writ- 
ing, and often at the same time dictating to from four to seven amanuenses. Besides 
his famous Commentaries, published in the very midst of his eventful career, he 
composed works on rhetoric and grammar, as well as tragedies, lyrics, etc. His style 
Is pure and natural, aud the polished smoothness of his sentences gives no hint of 
the stormy scenes amid which they were formed. 



58 B. c] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



249 



C^SAH remained in Ganl 
about nine years. He re- 
duced the entire country; 
crossed tlie llliiiie, carrying 
the Boman arms into Ger- 
many for the first time; 
and twice invaded Britain, 
—an island until Iheu un- 
known in Ital3' except by 
name. Not (mly were tlie 
three liundred tribes of 
Transalpine Gaul tliorough- 
13'- subdued, but they were 
made content with Csesar's 
rule. He became their civ- 
ilizer,— building roads and 
introducing Konian laws, 
institutions, manners, and 
customs. Moreover, he 
trained an army that knew 
no mind or will except that 
of its great general. Mean- 
while, Cajsar's friends in 
Kome,witli the Gallic spoils 
which he freely sent them, 
bribed and dazzled and in- 
trigued to sustain their 
master's power, and secure 
hira the ntsxt consulship. 



Ckassus was chosen 
joint consul with Pompey 
(56 ]i. c); he secured the 
province of Syria. Eager 
to obtain the boundless 
treasures of the East, he 
set out upon an expedition 
against Parthia. On the 
way he plundered the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem. While 
crossing the scorching 
plains beyond the Eu- 
phrates, not far from Car- 
rlue (the llarran of the 
Bible), he was suddenly 
surrounded by clouds of 
Parthian horsemen. Bo- 
man valor was of no avail 
in that ceaseless storm of 
arrows. During the retreat, 
Crassus was slain. His 
head was carried to the 
Parthian king, who, in de- 
rision, ordered it to be filled 
with molten gold. The 
dt^ath of Crassus ended the 
Tiiumvirate. 



Pompey, after a time, 
was clecte(t joint consul 
with Crassus, and,lator,8ole 
consul ; he obtained the 
province of Spain.Avliich ho 
governed by legates. He 
now ruled Bome, and was 
bent on ruling the empire. 
The death of his wife had 
severed the link which 
bound him to the conqueror 
of Gaul. Ho accordingly 
joined with the nobles, 
who were also alarmed by 
Ca'sar's brilliant victories, 
and the strength his suc- 
cess gave the popular party. 
A law was therefore passed 
ordering Cajsar to resign 
his office and disband his 
army before he appeared 
to sue for the consulsliip. 
The tribunes,— Antony and 
Cassius, — who .supported 
Caesar, were driven from 
the senate. They fled to 
Ciesar's camp, and de- 
manded protection. 



Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49 b. c). — 
Caesar at once marched upon Rome. Pompey had boasted 
that he had only to stamp his foot, and an army would 
spring from the ground; bnt he now fled to Greece with- 
out striking a blow. In sixty days Caesar was master of 
Italy. The decisive struggle between the two rivals took 
place on the plain of PliarsaUa (48 B. c). Pom23ey was 
beaten. He sought refuge in Egypt, where he was treach- 
erously slain. His head being brought to Caesar, the con- 
queror wept at the fate of his former friend. 

Caesar now placed the beautiful Cleopatra on the throne 
of the Ptolemies, and, marcliing into Syria, humbled 
Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, so quickly that he 
could write home this laconic dispatch, Yeni, Yidi, Yici 
(I came, I saw, I conquered). Cato and other Pompeian 



250 ROME. [46 B.C. 

leaders had assembled a great force in Africa, whereupon 
Caesar hurried his conquering legions thither, and at Thap- 
siis broke down all opposition (46 b. c). Cato, in despair of 
the republic, fell upon his sword. 

Caesar now returned to Rome to celebrate his 
triumphs. The sands of the arena were reddened with the 
blood of wild beasts and gladiators ; every citizen received 
a present, and a pubhc banquet was spread on twenty-two 
thousand tables. The adulation of the senate surpassed all 
bounds. Caesar was created dictator for ten years and censor 
for three, and his statue was placed in the Capitol, opposite to 
that of Jupiter. Meantime the sons of Pompey had rallied 
an army in Spain, whither Caesar hastened, and, in a desper- 
ate conflict at Munda (45 B. c), blotted theu' party out of ex- 
istence. He then returned to new honors and a campaign 
of civil reforms. 

Caesar's Government. — At Caesar's magic touch, order 
and justice sprang into new life. The provinces rejoiced in 
an honest administration. The Cauls obtained seats in the 
senate, and it was Caesar's design to have all the provinces 
represented in that body by their chief men. The calendar 
was revised.^ The distress among the poor was relieved by 
sending eighty thousand colonists to rebuild Corinth and 
Carthage. The number of claimants upon the public dis- 
tribution of grain was reduced over one half. A plan was 
formed to dig a new channel for the Tiber and to drain 
the Pontine marshes. Nothing was too vast or too small 
for the comprehensive mind of this mighty statesman. He 
could guard the boundaries of his vast empire along the 
Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates ; look after the paving of the 

1 Tlie Romau j'ear contained only three hundred and fifty-five days, and the mid- 
summer and tlie midwinter mouths tlien came in the spring and the fall. Julius 
Caesar introduced the extra day of leap year, and July was named after him (see 
Steele's New Astronomy, p. 269). 



44 B. C] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



251 



Roman streets; and listen to the recitation of pieces for 
prizes at the theaters, bestowing the wTcath upon the victor 
mth extenij)oro verse. 

Caesar's Assassination (44 b. c.)-— Ciesar, now dictator 
for hfe, was desirous of being king in name, as in fact. 
Wliile passing through the streets one day, he was liailed 
king; as the crowd murmured, he cried out, '' I am not king, 
but CtBsar." Still, when Mark Antony, the consul and his 
intimate friend, at a festival, offered him a crown, Cassar 
seemed to thrust it aside reluctantly. The u-e of zealous 
republicans was excited, and, under the guise of a love of 
liberty and old Roman virtue, those who were jealous of 
Coesar or who hated him formed a conspiracy for his assassi- 
nation. Brutus and C^assius, the leaders, chose the fifteenth 
of the ensuing March for the execution of the deed. As the 
day approached, the aii' was thick with rumors of approach- 
ing disaster. A famous augm- warned Caesar to beware of 
the Ides^ of March. The night before, his wife, Calpiu^nia, was 
distiu-bed by an ominous 
dream. On the way to the 
senate-house he was handed 
a scroll containing the de- 
tails of the plot, but in 
the press he had no chance 
to read it. When the con- 
spirators crowded about 
him, no alarm was caused, 
as they were men who owed 
their lives to his leniency, and their fortunes to his favor. 

1 Tn tlio Roman calendar tlie months wore divided liitotliree vavis^,— Calends, Ides, 
SL\\i\ Kones. Tlio Calends commenced on the first of each month, and were reckoned 
hackward into the preceding montli to the Ides. The Nones fell on the seventh of 
March, May, Jnly, and October, and on tlio fifth of the other months. The Ides came 
on the thirteenth of all months except these four, when they were the fifteenth. 

2 S. P. Q. R.,— Senatus Populusque Romanua (the Senate and Roman People). 




TllK IJOiMAN K.MHLKM. 



252 ROME. [44 b. c. 

Suddenly swords gleamed on every hand. For a moment 
the great soldier defended himself with the sharp point of 
his iron pen. Then, catching sight of the loved and trusted 
Brutus, he exclaimed, '' Et tu, Brute ! " (And thou, too, 
Brutus ! ) and, wrapping his mantle about his face, sank 
dead at the foot of Pompey's statue.^ 

The Result was very different from what the assassins had 
expected. The senate rushed out horror-stricken at the deed. 
The reading of Csesar's will, in which he gave every citizen 
three hundred sesterces (over ten dollars), and threw open 
his splendid gardens across the Tiber as a pubhc park, roused 
the popular fury. "When Antony pronounced the funeral 
eulogy, and finally held up Caesar's rent and bloody toga, 
the mob broke through every restraint, and ran with torches 
to burn the houses of the murderers. Brutus and Cassius 
fled to save their lives. 

Second Triumvirate (43 b. c). — Antony was fast get- 
ting power into his hand, when there arrived at Rome 
Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew and heir. He received 
the support of the senate and of Cicero, who denounced 
Antony in fiery orations. Antony was forced into exile, 
and then, twice defeated in battle, took refuge with 

1 Cjesar's brief public life— for ouly five stirring years elapsed from his entrance 
into Italy to his assassination— was full of dramatic scenes. Before marching upon 
Rome,it is said (though research stamps itasdoubtful) that he stopped atthe Rubicon, 
the boundary between his i)rovince of Cisalpine Gaul and Italj', and hesitated long. 
To pass it was to make war upon the republic. At last he shouted, "The die is 
cast!" and plunged into the stream.— When he had crossed into Greece in pursuit of 
Pompey, he became impatient at Antony's delay in bringing over the rest of tlie 
army, and, disguising himself, attempted to return across tlie Adriatic in a small boat. 
The sea ran high, and the crew determined to put back, when Cfesar shouted, "Go on 
boldly, fear nothing, thou bearest Caesar and his fortune ! "—At the battle of Phar- 
salia, he ordered his men to aim at the faces of Pompey's cavalr5\ The Roman 
knights, dismayed at this attack on their beauty, quickly fled ; after the victory 
Cfesar rode over the field, calling upon the men to spare the Roman citizens, and on 
rcacJiing Pompey's tent put his letters in the fire unread.— When Csesar learned of the 
death of Cato, he lamented the tragic fate of such high integrity and virtue, and ex- 
claimed, "Cato, I envy thee thy death, since thou enviest me the glory of saving tliy 
life ! " 



43 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 253 

Lepidus, governor of a part of Spain and Gaul. Octavius 
retiu-ned to Rome, won the favor of the peo2)le, and, though 
a youth of only nineteen, was chosen consul. A triumvi- 
rate, similar to the one seventeen years before, was now 
formed between Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus. The bar- 
gain was sealed by a proscription more horrible than that of 
Sulla. Lepidus sacrificed his brother, Antony his uncle, 
and Octavius his warm supporter, Cicero. The orator's 
head having been brought to Rome, Fulvia thrust her golden 
bodkin through the tongue that had pronounced the Philip- 
pics against her husband Antony. 

Battle of Philippi (42 b. c). — Brutus and Cassius, who 
had gone to the East, raised an army to resist this new 
coalition. The triumvirs pursued them, and the issue was 
decided on the field of FMlippi. Brutus ^ and Cassius 
were defeated, and in despair committed suicide. Octavius 
and Antony divided the empire between them, the former 
taking the West, and the latter the East. Lepidus received 
Africa, but was soon stripped of his share and sent back to 
Rome. 

Antony and Cleopatra. — ^Antony now went to Tarsus 
to look after his new possessions. Here Cleopatra was 
summoned to answer for having supported Cassius against 
the triumvirs. She came, captivated Antony by her charms,^ 



1 Brutus, before this battle, was disheartened. The triumvirs had proved worse 
tyrants than he could ever have feared Cajsar would become. He and Cassius quar- 
reled bitterlj'. His wife, Portia, had died (according to some authorities) broken- 
hearted at the calamities which had befallen lier country. One night, as he was 
sitting alone in his tent, musing over the troubled state of affairs, he suddenly 
perceived a gigantic figure standing before him. He was startled, but exclaimed, 
" What art thou, and for what purpose art thou come?"—" I am thine evil genius," 
replied the phantom ; " we shall m€et again at Philippi ! " 

2 Cleopatra ascended the Cydnus in a galley with purple sails. The oars, inlaid 
witli silver, moved to the soft music of flute and pipe. She reclined under a gold- 
spangled canopy, attired as Venus, and attended by nymphs, cupids, and graces. 
The air was redolent with perfumes. As she approached Tarsus, the whole city 
flocked to witness the magnificent sight, leaving Antony sitting alone in the tribunal. 



254 ROME. [41 B.C. 

and carried him to Egypt. They passed the winter in the 
wildest extravagance. Breaking away for a time from the 
silken chains of Cleopatra^ Antony, upon tlie death of Fulvia, 
married the beautiful and noble Oetavia, sister of Octavius. 
But at the first opportunity he went back again to Alexan- 
dria, where he laid aside the dignity of a Roman citizen and 
assumed the dress of an Egjrptian monarch.^ Cleopatra 
was presented with several provinces, and became the real 
ruler of the East. 

Civil War between Octavius and Antony (31 b. c). 
— The senate at last declared war against Cleopatra. There- 
upon Antony divorced Octavia and prepared to invade Italy. 
The rival fleets met off the promontory of Ac'tium. Cleo- 
patra fled with her ships early in the day. Antony, basely 
deserting those who were dying for his cause, followed her. 
Wlien Octavius entered Egypt (30 B. c), there was no resist- 
ance. Antony, in despair, stabbed himself. Cleopatra in 
vain tried her arts of fascination upon the conqueror. 
Finally, to avoid gracing his triumph at Rome, she put an 
end to her life, according to the common story, by the bite 
of an asp, brought her in a basket of figs. Thus died the 
last of the Ptolemies. 

Result. — Egypt now became a province of Rome. With 
the battle of Actiuni ended the Roman republic. Csesar 
Octavius was the undisputed master of the civilized world. 
After his retm-n to Italy, he received the title of Augustus, 
by which name he is known in history. The civil wars 
were over. 

1 The follios and wasteful extravagance of their mad revels at Alexandria almost 
surpass helief. One day, in Antony's kitchen, tliere are said to have been eight wild 
boars roasting whole, so arranged as to be ready at different times, that his' dinner 
might be served In perfection whenever lie should see fit to order it. On another 
occasion he and the queen vied as to which could serve the more expensive banquet. 
Removing a magnificent pearl from her ear, slie dissolved it in vinegar, and swal- 
lowed the priceless draught. 



31 B.C.] 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 



255 



IMPERIAL HOME. 

Establishment of the Empire. — After the clamor of 
a hundred years, a sweet silence seemed to fall npon the 
eai'th. The Tem])le of Janns was closed for the second time 




I.WELLS, DEL. 



RUSSELL 4 STRU.THERS, ENGS, N.Y 



since the pions Numa. Warned by the fate of Jidius, 
Augustns did not take the name of king, nor startle the 
Roman prejudices by any sudden seizure of authority. He 



256 ROME. [31 B.C. 

kejDt lip all the forms of the republic. Every ten years he 
went tlirough the farce of laying down his rank as chief of 
the army, or imperator, — a word since contracted to emperor. 
He professed himself the humble servant of the senate, 
while he really exercised absolute power. Gradually all the 
offices of trust were centered in him. He became at once 
proconsul, consul, censor, tribune, and high priest.^ 

Massacre of Varus (9 a. d.). — Germany, under the 
vigorous rule of Drusus and Tiberius, step-sons of Augustus, 
now seemed liliely to become as thoroughly Romanized 
as Gaul had been (Brief Hist. France, p. 11). Varus, gov- 
ernor of the province, thinking the conquest complete, at- 
tempted to introduce the Latin language and laws. There- 
upon Arminius, a noble, freedom-loving German, aroused 
his countrymen, and in the wilds of the Teutoburg Forest 
took a terrible revenge for the wrongs they had suffered. 
Varus and his entire army perished.^ Dii'e was the dismay 
at Rome when news came of this disaster. For days 
Augustus wandered tlirough his palace, beating his head 
against the waU, and crying, "Varus, give me back my 
legions ! " Six years later the whitened bones of these hap- 
less warriors were buried by Germanicus, the gifted son of 
Drusus, who in vain endeavored to restore the Roman au- 
thority in Germany. 

The Augustan Age (31 b. c.-14 a. d.) was, however, one 
of general peace and prosperity. The emperor hved unos- 

1 As consul, lie became chief magistrate ; as censor, he could decide who were to 
be senators; as tribune, he heard appeals, and his person was sacred; as imperator, 
he commanded the army ; and as poutifex maximus, or chief priest, he was the head 
of the national religion. These were powers originally belonging to the king, but 
which, during the republic, from a fear of centralization, had been distributed among 
different persons. Now the emperor gathered them up again. 

2 Creasy reckons this among the fifteen decisive battles of the world. "Had Ar- 
minius been defeated," says Arnold, " our German ancestors would have been en. 
slaved or exterminated, and the great English nation would have been struck out of 
existence." 



14A.D.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 257 

tentatiously in his house, not in a palace, and his toga was 
woven by his wife Livia and lier maidens. He revived the 
worshij^ of the gods. His chosen friends were men of 
letters. He beautified Rome, so that he could truly boast 
that he "found the city of brick, and left it of marble." 
There was now no fear of pirates or hostile fleets, and grain 
came in plenty from Egypt. The people were amused and 
fed ; hence they were contented. The provinces were well 
governed,^ and many gained Roman citizenship. A single 
language became a universal bond of intercoui'se, and Rome 
began her work of civilization and education. Wars having 
so nearly ceased, and interest in politics having diminished, 
men turned their thoughts more toward literature, art, and 
religion. 

The Birth of Christ, the central figure in all history, 
occurred during the widespread peace of this reign. 

The Empire was, in general, bounded by the Euphrates 
on the east, the Danube and the Rhine on the north, the 
Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the deserts of Africa on the 
south. It comprised about a hundi-ed millions of people, of 
perhaps a hundred different nations, each speaking its own 
language and worshiping its own gods. An army of three 
hundred and fifty thousand men held the provinces in check, 
while the Prnetorian Guard of ten thousand protected the 
person of the emperor. The Mediterranean, which the 
Romans proudly called '' om* own sea," served as a natural 
highway between the widely sundered parts of this vast 
region, while the Roman roads, straight as an eagle's flight, 
bound every portion of the empii-e to its center. Every- 
where the emperor's will was law. His smile or frown was 

1 One day wlieu Augustus was sailing in tlie Baj^ of Baiix?, a Greek sliip was pass- 
ing. The sailors, perceiving the emperor, stopped their vessel, arrayed tliemselves in 
white robes, and, going on board his yacht, offered sacrifice to him as a god, saying, 
" You have given to us liappiness. You have secured to us our lives and our goods." 



258 



ROME. 



lIst cent. a. d. 



the fortune or ruin of a man, a city, or a province. His 
character determined the prosperity of the empire. 

He hved to be seventy-six years old, having reigned forty- 
four years. At his death ^ the senate decreed that divine 
honors should be given him, and temples were erected for 
his worship. From him the month August was named. 

Henceforth the history of Rome is not that of the people, 
but of its emperors. Of these, forty-two were murdered, 
three committed suicide, and two were forced to abdicate 
the throne.2 None of the early emperors was followed by 
his own son, but, according to the Roman law of adoption, 
they all counted as Caesars. Nero was the last of them at 
all connected with Augustus, even by adoption, though the 
emperors called themselves Caesar and Augustus to the last. 
After the death of Augustus, 




COIN OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. 



Tiberius (14 a. d.), his step-son, secured the empire by 
a decree of the senate. The army on the Rhine would have 



1 The domestic life of Augustus was not altogetlier happy. He suffered greatly 
from the imperious disposition of Livia,— his fourth wife,— whom, however, he loved 
too dearly to coerce ; from his step-son Tiherius, whose turbulence he was forced to 
clieck hy sending him in exile to Rhodes; and still more keenly from the immoral 
conduct of his daughter Julia, whom, with her mother, Scribonia, he was also com- 
pelled to banish. 

2 In the following pages a brief account is given of the principal monarchs only; 
a full list of the emperors may be found on p. 311. 



14A.D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 259 

gladly given the throne to the noble Germanieus, but 
he declined the honor. Jealous of this kinsman, Tiberius, 
it is thought, afterward removed him by poison. The 
new emperor ruled for a time with much ability, yet soon 
proved to be a gloomy tyrant,^ and finally retired to the 
Island of Caprea3, to practice in secret his infamous orgies. 
His favorite, the cruel and ambitious Seja'nus, prefect of 
the Praetorian Guard, remained at Rome as the real ruler, 
but, having conspired against his master, he was thrown 
into the Mamertine Prison, and there strangled. Many of 
the best citizens fell victims to the emperoi^'s suspicious 
disposition, and all, even the surviving members of his own . 
family, breathed easier when news came of his sudden 
death. 

The great event of this reign was the crucifixion of Christ ^ 
at Jerusalem, under Pilate, Roman procurator of Judea. 

Caligula^ (37 a. d.) inherited some of his father's virtues, 
but he was weak-minded, and his history records only a 
madman's freaks. He made his favorite horse a consul, and 
provided him a golden manger. Any one at whom the 
emperor nodded his head or pointed his finger was at once 
executed. " Would," said he, ^' that all the people at Rome 
had but one neck, so I could cut it off at a single blow." 

Nero (54 a. d.) assassinated his mother and wife. In the 
midst of a great fire which destroyed a larger part of Rome, 
he chanted a poem to the music of his lyre, while he 
watched the flames. To secure himself against the charge 
of having at least spread the fire, he ascribed the confla- 

1 His character resembled that of Louis XI. (see Brief Hist. France, p. 94). 

2 Over liis cross was an inscription in three languages, significant of the tliree 
best developments then known of tlie human race,— ROMAN law, Greek mind, and 
Hebuew faith. 

3 Caius, son of Germanicus, and great-grandson of Augustus, received from the 
soldier.s the nickname of Caligula, by which ho is always known, because he wore 
little boots {caligulce) while with his father in camp on the Rhine. 



260 



ROME. 



[1st cent. a. d. 



gration to the Clii'istiaus. These were cruelly persecuted/ 
St. Paul and St. Peter, according to traditiou, being mar- 
tyi-ed at this time. In rebuilding the city, Nero substi- 
tuted broad streets for the winding lanes in the hollow 
between the Seven Hills, and, in place of the unsightly 
piles of brick and wood, erected handsome stone buildings^ 
each block surrounded by a colonnade. 




COIN OF NERO. 



Vespasian (69 a. d.) was made emperor by his army in 
Judea. An old-fashioned Roman, he sought to revive the 
ancient virtues of honesty and frugality. His son Titus, 
after capturing Jerusalem (pp. 85, 284), shared the throne 
with his father, and finally succeeded to the empire. His 
generosity and kindness won him the name of the Delight 
of ManMnd. He refused to sign a death-warrant, and pro- 
nounced any day lost in which he had not done some one 
a favor. During this happy period, Agricola conquered 
nearly all Britain, making it a Roman province; the 
famous Colosseum at Rome was finished ; but Pompeii and 



1 Some were crucified. Some were covered with the slfins of wild beasts, and 
worried to death by dogs. Some were thrown to the tigers and lions in the Amphi- 
theater. Gray-haired men were forced to fight with trained gladiators. Worst of all, 
one night Nero's gardens were lighted by Christians, who, their clothes having been 
smeared with i)itch and ignited, were placed as blazing torches along the course on 
which the emperor, heedless of their agony, drove his chariot in the races. 



79A.D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 261 

Herciilaueuni were destroyed by an eruption of Mount 
Vesuvius.^ 

Domitian^ (81 a. d.) was a second Nero or Caligula. His 
chief amusement was in spearing flies with a pin; yet he 
styled himself " Lord and God," and received divine honors. 
He banished the philosophers, and renewed the persecution 
of the Christians. At this time St. John was exiled to the 
Isle of Patmos. 

The Five Good Emperors (9G-180 a. d.) now brought 
in the palmiest days of Rome. Nerva, a quiet, honest old 
man, distributed lands among the plebs, and taught them to 
work for a living. Trajan, a great Spanish general, con- 
quered the Dacians and many Eastern peoples; founded 
public libraries and schools in Italy; and tried to restore 
freedom of speech and simplicity of life.^ Hadrian traveled 
almost incessantly over his vast empu^e, overseeing the gov- 
ernment of the provinces, and erecting splendid buildings. 
Antmiinus Fins was a second Numa ; by his love of justice 
and religion, he diffused the blessings of peace and order over 
the civilized world. Marcus AureMus^ was a philosopher, 
and loved quiet. But the time of peace had passed. The 
Germans, pressed by Russian Slavs, fled before them, and 
crossed the Roman frontiers as in the time of Marius. The 
emperor was forced to take the field in person, and died 
during the eighth winter campaign. 

Decline of the Empire. — The most virtuous of men 
was succeeded by a weak, vicious boy, his son Commodus. 



1 The forgotten site of Pompeii was accidentally discovered in 1748 (see p. 300). 

2 Domitian is said to have once called together the senate to decide how a fish 
should be cooked for his dinner. 

3 Two centuries afterward, at the accession of each emperor, the senate wished 
that he might be " more fortiinate than Augustus, more virtuous than Trajan." 

4 Marcus Aurelius took the name of his adoptive father, Antoninus, so that this 
period is known as the Age of the Antoninea. 



262 ROME. [180 A. D. 

An era of military despotism followed. Miu'der became 
domesticated in the palace of tlie Caesars. The Praetorian 
Guards put up the imperial power at auction, and sold it to 
the highest bidder. The armies in the provinces declared 
for their favorite officers, and the throne became the stake 
of battle. Few of the long list of emperors who succeeded 
to the throne are worthy of mention. 

Septim'ius Seve'rus (193 a. d.), a general in Germany, 
after defeating his rivals, ruled vigorously, though often 
cruelly. His triumphs in Parthia and Britain renewed the 
glory of the Roman arms. 

Car'acarius (211 a. d.) would be remembered only for 
his ferocity, but that he gave the right of Roman citizenship 
to all the provinces, in order to tax them for the benefit of 
his soldiers. This event marked an era in the history of 
the empire, and greatly lessened the importance of Rome. 

Alexander Seve'rus (222 a. d.) delighted in the society 
of the wise and good. He favored the Christians, and over 
the door of his palace were inscribed the words, " Do unto 
others that which you would they should do unto you." He 
won victories against the Germans and Persians (Sassanidae, 
p. 156), but, attempting to estabUsh discipUne in the army, 
was slain by his mutinous troops in the bloom of youth. 

The Barbarian Goths, Germans, and Persians, who 
had so long threatened the empire, invaded it on every side. 
The emperor Decius was killed in battle by the Goths. 
Oalliis bought peace by an annual tribute. Valerian was 
taken prisoner by the Persian king, who carried him about 
in chains, and used him as a footstool in mounting his horse. 
The temple at Ephesus was burned at this time by the Goths. 

Dming the general confusion, so many usurpers sprang 
up over the empire and established short-lived kingdoms, 
that this is known as the Era of the Tlm-ty Tyrants. 



268 a. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 263 

The lUyrian Emperors (2G8-284 a. d.), howevcir, rolled 
back the tide of invasion. Claudius vanquished the Goths 
in a contest which recalled the days of Marius and the Gauls. 
Aurelian drove the Germans into their native wilds, and de- 
feated Zenobia, the beautiful and heroic queen of Palmyra, 
bringing her to Rome in chains of gold to grace his triumph. 
Frobus triumphed at the East and the West, and, turning to 
the arts of peace, introduced the vine into Germany, and 
taught the legions to work in vineyard and field. Diocle'tian 
began a new method of government. To meet the swarm- 
ing enemies of the empire, he associated with himself his 
comrade-in-arms, Maxim kin; each emperor took the title of 
Augustus, and appointed, under the name of Caesar, a brave 
general as his successor. War raged at once in Persia, 
Egypt, Britain, and Germany, but the four rulers vigilantly 
w^atched over theii* respective provinces, and the Roman 
eagles conquered every foe. 

In the year 303 a. d. the joint emperors celebrated the 
last triumph ever held at Rome. During the same year, also, 
began the last and most bitter persecution of the Christians,^ 
so that this reign is called the Era of the Martyrs. 

Spread of Christianity. — The rehgion founded by 
Jesus of Nazareth, and preached duiing the 1st century by 
Paul and the other Apostles (see Acts of the Apostles), had 
now spread over the Western Empire. It was largely, how- 
ever, confined to the cities, as is curiously shown in the fact 
that the word '^ pagan " originally meant only a countryman. 
Though the Romans tolerated the rehgious belief of every 
nation which they conquered, they cruelly persecuted Chris- 
tians. This wais because the latter opposed the national 

1 In 305 A. I), both emperors resigned tlie purple. Diocletian amused liimself by 
working lu his garden, and when Maxiniian sought to diaw liim out of his letire- 
nient he wrote: "If you could see the cabbages I have planted with my own hand, 
you would never ask me to remount the throne." 



264 ROME. [4th CENT. A. D. 

religion of the empire, and refused to offer sacrifice to its 
gods, and to worship its emperors. Moreover, the Christians 
absented themselves from the games and feasts, and were 
accustomed to hold their meetings at night, and often in 
secret. They were therefore looked upon as enemies of the 
state, and were persecuted by even the best rulers, as Trajan 
and Diocletian, This opposition, however, served only to 
strengthen the rising faith. The heroism of the martyi's 
extorted the admiration of their enemies. Thus, when Poly- 
carp was hurried before the tribunal and urged to curse 
Christ, he exclaimed, " Eighty-six years have I served Him, 
and He has done me nothing but good ; how could I curse 
Him, my Lord and Saviour ? " And when the flames rose 
around him he thanked God that he was deemed worthy of 
such a death. With the decaying empire. Heathenism grew 
weaker, while Christianity gained strength. As early as the 
reign of Septimius Severus, Tertullian declared that if the 
Christians were forced to emigrate, the empire would become 
a desert. 

Loss of Roman Prestige. — Men no longer looked to 
Rome for their citizenship. The army consisted principally 
of Gauls, Germans, and Britons, who were now as good Ro- 
mans as any. The emperors were of provincial birth. The 
wars kept them on the frontiers, and Diocletian, it is said, 
had never seen Rome until he came there in the twentieth 
year of his reign to celebrate his triumph. His gorgeous 
Asiatic court, with its pompous ceremonies and its king 
wearing the hated crown, was so ridiculed in Rome by 
song and lampoon that the monarch never returned. His 
headquarters were kept at Nicomedia (Bithynia) in Asia 
Minor, and Maximian's at Milan. 

Constantine, the Cfesar in Britain, having been pro- 
claimed Augustus by his troops, overthrew five rivals who 



324 a. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 265 

contested the throne, and became sole ruler (324 a. d.). His 
reign marked an era in tlie world's history. It was char- 
acterized by three changes: 1. Christianity became, in a 
sense, the state religion.^ 2. The capital was removed to 
Byzantium, a Greek city, afterward known as Constantinople 
(Constautine's city). 3. The monarchy was made an abso- 
lute despotism, the power of the army weakened, and a court 
established, whose nobles, receiving their honors directly 
from the emperor, took rank with, if not the place of, the 
former consul, senator, or patrician. 

The First General ((Ecumenical) Council of the 
Church was lield at Nica^a (325 a. d.), to consider the teach- 
ings of A)'ii(s, a priest of ^Uexandria, who denied the divinity 
of Christ. Arianism was denounced, and the opposing 
doctrines of another Alexandrian priest, Athana'sius, were 
adopted as the Nicene Creed. 

Christianity soon conquered the empire. The emperor 
Julimiy the Apostate, an excellent man though a Pagan 
philosopher, sought to restore the old religion, but in vain. 
The best intellects, repelled from political discussion by the 
tyi'anny of the government, turned to the consideration of 
theological questions. This was especially true of tlie East- 
ern Church, where the Greek mind, so fond of metaphysical 
subtleties, was predominant. 

Barbarian Invasions. — In the latter part of the 4th 
century, a host of Scivage Huns,^ bursting into Europe, drove 

1 Ai:c(»t(liug to the legend, when Constantinc was marchin.? ajrninst Maxentius, 
the rival Augustus at Rome, he saw in the sky at mid-day a tlanimg cross, and beneath 
it the words, " IN this conquer ! " Constantino accepted tlie new faith, and assumed 
the standard of the cross, wliich was henceforth borne by the Christian emperors. 

2 The Huns were a Turanian race from Asia. They were short, thick-set, with 
flat noses, deep-sunk eyes, and a yeUow complexion. Their faces were hideously 
scarred with shishes to prevent the gru'vih of the beard. An historian of the time com- 
pares their ugliness to the grinning lieads carved on the posts of bridges. Tliey 
dressed in skins, wliich were worn until they rotted off, and lived ou horseback, 
carrying theii- families and all their possessions in huge wagons. 



266 ROMTi]. [378 A. D. 

tlie Teutons in terror before them. The frightened Goths ^ 
obtained permission to cross the Danube for an asylum, and 
soon a million of these wild warriors stood, sword in hand, 
on the Roman territory. They were assigned lands in 
Thrace ; but the ill treatment of the Roman officials drove 
them to arms. They defeated the emperor Valens in a 
terrible battle near Adrianople, the monarch himself being 
burned to death in a peasant's cottage, where he had been 
carried wounded. The victorious Goths pressed forward to 
the very gates of Constantinople. 

Theodosius the Great, a Spaniard, raised from a farm 
to the throne, stayed for a few years tlie inevitable prog- 
ress of events. He pacified tlu^ Goths, and enlisted forty 
thousand of tlieir warriors under the eagles of Rome. He 
I'orbade the worship of the old gods, and tried to put down 
the Arian heresy, so prevalent at Constantinople. At his 
death (395 a. d.) the empire was divided between his two 
sons. 

Henceforth the histories of the Eastern or Byzantine and 
the Western Empire are separate. The former is to go on 
at Constantinople for one thousand years, while Rome is 
soon to pass into the hands of the barbarians. 

The 5 th Century is known as the Era of the Or eat 
Migrations. During this j^eriod, Europe was turbulent with 
the movements of the restless Germans. Pressed by the 
Huns, the different tribes — the East and West Goths, Franks, 
Alans, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobards (Lombards), Alle- 
manns. Angles, Saxons — poured south and west with irre- 

1 Tlie Goths were already somewhat advanced in civilization through their inter- 
course with the Romans, and we read of Gothic leadei's who were "judges of Homer, 
and carried well-chosen books with them on their travels." Under the teacliiugs of 
their good bishop, Ul'philas, many accepted Christianity, and the Bible was tran.slated 
into their language. They, however, became Ariaus, and so a new element of discord 
was introduced, as they hated the Catholic Christians of Home (see Brief Hist. 
France, p. 14). 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 267 

sistible fiiry, arms in hand, seeking new homes in the 
crumbling Roman Empire. It was nearly two centuries 
before the turmoil sul^sided enough to note the changes 
which had taken place. 

Three Great Barbaric Leaders, Al'aric the Goth, 
At'tila the Hun, and Uen'scric the Vandal, were conspicuous 
in the grand catastroplie. 

1. Alaric having l)een chosen prince of the Goths, after 
the death of Theodosius, passed the defile of Thermopylae, 
and devastated Greece, destroying the precious monuments 
of its former glory. Sparta and Athens, once so brave, made 
no defense. He was finally driven back by Stilicho, a Van- 
dal, but the only great Roman general. Alari(i next moved 
upon Italy, l)ut was repeatedly repulsed l)y the watchful 
Stilicho. The Roman emperor Honoiius, jealous of his 
successful general, (jrdei'ed his execution. When Alaric 
came again, there was no one to opi)ose his progress. All 
the barbarian Germans, of every name, joined his victorious 
arms. Rome ' bought a 1 )i'ief respite with a ransom of " gold, 
sUver, silk, scarh^t (jlotli, and pepper;" but Tlie Eternal City, 
which had not seen an enemy 1)efore its walls since the 
day when it defied Hannibal, soon fell without a blow (410 
A. D.). No Ploratius was there to hold the bridge in this 
hour of peril. The gates were thrown open, and at midnight 
the Gothic trumpet awoke the inhabitants. For six days 
the barbcirians held high revel, and then their climisy 



1 " Rome, at this time, contained probablj-^ a million of inhabitants, and its wealtli 
might well attract the cupidity of the barbarous invader. The palaces of the senators 
were lilled with gold and silver ornaments,— the piize of many a bloody campaign. 
The churches were rich with the contributions of pious worshipers. On the en- 
trance of the (4oths, a fearful scene of pillage ensued. Houses were fired to light the 
stieets. Great numbers of citizens wero driven off to be sold as slaves ; while others 
fled to Africa, or the islands of the Mediterranean. Alaric, being an Arian, tried to 
save the churches, as well as the city, from destruction. But now began that swift 
decay which soon leduced Rome to heaps of luius, and rendered the title 'The 
Kternal City' a sad mockery."— <S'»/m77i. 



268 



ROME. 



wagons, heaped high with priceless plunder, moved south 
along the Appian Way. Alaric died soon after J His suc- 
cessor, Adolphils, triumphantly married the sister of the 
emperor,^ and was styled an officer of Rome. Under his 
guidance, the Goths and Germans turned westward into 
Spain and southern Gaul. There they founded a powerful 
Visigotliic kingdom, with Toulouse as its capital. 

2. Attila, King of the 
hideous Huns, gathering 
half a million savages, set 
forth westward from his 
wooden palace in Himgary, 
vomng not to stop till he 
reached the sea. He called 
himself the Scourge of 
God, and boasted that 
where his horse set foot 
grass never grew again. 
On the field of Chalons 
(451 A. D.), JE'tius, the Ro- 
man general in Gaul, and 
Theodoric, King of the 
Goths, arrested this Tu- 
ranian horde, and saved 
Europe to Christianity and 
Aiyan civilization. Burn- 
ing with revenge, Attila crossed the Alps an'i descended 




1 The Goths, in order to hide his tomb, turned aside a stream, and, digging a 
grave in its bed, placed therein the body, clad in richest armor. They then let the 
water back, and slew the prisoners who had done the work. 

2 During this disgraceful campaign, Honorins lay liidden in the inaccessible 
morasses of Ravenna, where he amused himself with his pet chickens. When some 
one told him Rome was lost, he replied, "That cannot be, for I fed her out of my 
hand a moment ago," alluding to a hen which he called Rome. 



THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 269 

into Italy. City after city was spoiled and burned.^ Just 
as he was about to inarch upon Rome, Pope Leo came forth 
to meet him, and the barbarian, awed by his majestic mien 
and the glory which yet clung to that seat of empire, 
agreed to spare the city. Attila returned to the banks 
of the Danube, where he died shortly after, leaving behind 
him in history no mark save the ruin he had wrought. 

3. Genseric, leading across into Africa the Vandals, who 
had ah'eady settled the province of Vandalusisi in southern 
Spain, founded an empire at Carthage. Wishing to revive 
its former maritime greatness, he built a fleet and gained 
control of the Mediterranean. His ships cast anchor in the 
Tiber, and the intercessions of Leo were now fruitless to 
save Rome. For fourteen days the pirates plundered the 
city of the Ca?sars. Works of art, bronzes, precious marbles, 
were ruthlessly destroyed, so that the word ^' vandalism " be- 
came synonymous with wanton devastation. 

Fall of the Roman Empire (476 a. d.). — The com- 
mander of the barbarian troops in the pay of Rome now set 
up at pleasure one puppet emperor after another. The last 
of these phantom monarchs, Romulus Augustulus,^ by a sin- 
gular coincidence bore the names of the founder of the city 
and of the empire. Finally, at the command of Odo^acer, 
German chief of the mercenaries, he laid down his useless 
scepter. The senate sent the tiara and purple robe to 
Constantinople ; and Zeno, the Eastern emperor, appointed 
Odoacer Fatncian of Ifah/. So the Western Einpu-e passed 
away, and only this once proud title remained to recall its 
former glory. Byzantium had displaced Rome. 



1 The inhabitants of Aqulleia and otlier cities, seeking a refuge in the Islands 
of the Adriatic, founded Venice, fitly named Tlie Eldest Daughter of the Empire. 

2 Augustulus is the diminutive for Augustus. 



270 



ROME. 



2. THE CIVILIZATION. 

Society. — The early Roman social and political organization 

was similar to the Athenian (p. 158). The true Roman people 
comprised only the patricians and their clients. The patricians 
formed the ruhng class, and, even in the time of the republic, gave 
to Roman history an aristocratic character. Several clients were 
attached to each patrician, serving his interests, and, in turn, being- 
protected by him. 



T 




The three original tribes of patricians (Ramnes, Titles, and 
Luceres) were each divided into ten curice, and each curia theoreti- 
cally into ten gentes (houses or clans). The members of a Roman 
curia, or ward, like those of an Athenian phratry, possessed many 
interests in common, each curia having its own priest and lands. A 
gens comprised several families,i united usually by kinship and 



1 Contrary to the custom in Greece, where family names were seldom nsed, and a 
man was generally known by a single name having reference to some i)ersonal pecu- 
liarity or circumstance (p. 175), to every Roman three names were given : the i^rceno- 
men or individual name, the nomen or clan iiani(% and the coynotnen or family name. 
Sometimes a fourth name was added to commemorate some exploit. Tlius, in the 
case of Puhlius Cornelius Scipio Afiicanus, and liis brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio 
Asiaticus (note, p. 235), wo recognize all these titles. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 271 

intermarriage, and bearing the same name. Within the gens, 
each family formed its own little community, governed by the 
"paterfamilias," who owned all the property. The sons dwelt 
under the paternal roof, often long after they were married, and 
cultivated the family estate in common. 

Magistrates. — The Consuls commanded the army, and executed 
the decrees of the senate and the people. They were chosen an- 
nually. They wore a white robe with a purple border, and were 
attended by twelve lictors bearing the ax and rods {fasces y p. 208), 
emblems of the consular power. At the approach of a consul, all 
heads were uncovered, seated persons arose, and those on horse- 
back dismounted. No one was eligible to the consulship until he 
was forty-three years of age, and had held the offices of quaestor, 
sedile, and praetor. 

The QucBstors received and paid out the moneys of the state. 

The JS^diles, two (and afterward four) in number, took charge of 
the public buildings, the cleaning and draining of the streets, and 
the superintendence of the police and the public games. 

The Prcetor was a sort of judge. At first there was only one, 
but finally, owing to the increase of Roman territory, there were 
sixteen, of these officers. In the later days of the republic it 
became customary for the consuls and the praetors, after serving 
a year in the city, to take command of provinces, and to assume 
the title of proconsul or propraetor. 

The Tivo Censors were elected for five years. They took the cen- 
sus of the names and property of Roman citizens 5 aiTanged the 
different classes (p. 212) j corrected the lists of senators and 
equites, striking out the unworthy, and filling vacancies; pun- 
ished extravagance and immorality; levied the taxes; and re- 
paired and constructed public works, roads, etc. 

The Army. — Every citizen between the ages of seventeen and 
fifty was subject to military service, unless he was of the lowest 
class, or had served twenty campaigns in the infantry or ten in 
the cavalry. The drill was severe, and included running, jump- 
ing, swimming in full armor, and marching long distances at the 
rate of four miles per hour. There were four classes of foot-sol- 
diers: viz., the velites, or light armed, who hovered in front; the 
hastati, so called because they anciently caiTied spears, and who 
formed the first line of battle ; the principes, so named because in 
early times they were put in front, and who formed the second line ; 
and the triarii, veterans who composed the third line. Each legion 



272 



ROME. 



contained from three to six thousand men. The legions were divided 
and subdivided into cohorts, companies {manipuU), and centuries. 
Arms and Mode of Warfare.— The national arm of the Ro- 
mans was the inlum, a heavy iron-pointed spear, six feet long, and 
weighing ten or eleven pounds. This was thrown at a distance of 
ten to fifteen paces, after which the legionary came to blows with 
his stout, short sword. The velites began the battle with light 
javehns, and then retired behind the rest. The hastati, the prin- 
cipes, and the triarii, each, in turn, bore the brunt of the fight, and, 
if defeated, passed through 
intervals between the ma- 
nipuH of the other lines, and 
rallied in the rear. 





SIEGE OF A CITY. 



1 Later in Roman liistory the soldiev ceased to be a citizen, and remained con- 
stantly with the eagles until discharged. Marius arranged his troops in two lines, 



THE CIVILTZATION. 273 

The Romans learned from the Greeks the use of military enp^ines, 
and finally became experts in the art of sieges. Their principal 
machines were the baUista for throwing stones j the catapult for 
hurling darts; the battering-ram (so called from the shape of the 
metal head) for breaching walls; and the movable tower, which 
could be pushed close to the fortifications, and so overlook them. 

On the march each soldier had to carrj^, besides his arms, grain 
enough to last from seventeen to thirty days, one or more wooden 
stakes, and often intrenching tools. When the army halted, 
even for a single night, a ditch was dug about the site for the 
camp, and a stout palisade made of the wooden stakes, to guard 
against a sudden attack. The exact size of the camp, and the 
location of every tent, street, etc., were fixed by a regular plan 
common to all the armies. 

Literature.— For about five centuries after the founding of 
Rome, there was not a Latin author. When a regard for letters at 
last arose, the tide of imitation set in-esistibly toward Greece. Over 
two centuries after ^schylus and Sophocles contended for the 
Athenian prize, Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave, made the first 
Latin translation of Greek classics (about 240 b. c), and himself 
wrote and acted ^ plays whose inspiration was caught from the 
same source. His works soon became text-books in Roman 
schools, and were used till the time of Virgil. Naevius, a soldier- 
poet, 'Hhe last of the native minstrels," patterned after Eurip- 
ides in tragedy, and Aristophanes in comedy. The Romans 
resented the exposure of theii* national and personal weaknesses 
on the stage, sent the bold satirist to prison, and finally banished 
him. Ennius, the father of Latin song, called himself the 
" Roman Homer.'' He unblushingly borrowed from his great 
model, decried the native fashion of ballad- writing, introduced 
hexameter verse, and built up a new style of literature, closely 



and Caesar generally in three ; but the terms hastati, principes, aud triarii lost their 
sijrnificance. The place of the velites was taken by Cretan archers, Balearic sliugcrs, 
and Gallic and German mercenaries. In time, the army was tilled with foreigners; 
the heavj' pilum and breastplate were thrown aside; all trace of Roman equipment 
and discipline disappeared, and the legion became a tiling of the past. 

1 For a long time he was the only performer in these dramas. He recited the 
dialogues and speeches, aud sang the Ij'rics to the accompaniment of a flute. So 
favorably was the new entertainment received bj' Roman audiences, aud so often 
was the successful actor encored, tliat he lost his voice, aud was obliged to hire a 
boy, who, hidden behind a curtain, sang tlie canticas, while Livius, in front, made 
the appropriate gestures. This custom afterward became common on the Roman 
stage. 



274 ROME. 

founded on the Grecian.^ His ^^ Annals," a poetical Roman history, 

was for two centuries the national poem of Rome. Ennius, unlike 
Naevius, flattered the ruling powers, and was rewarded by having 
his bust placed in the tomb of the Scipios. Plautns (254-184 B. c), 
who pictured with his coarse, vigorous, and brilliant wit the man- 
ners of his day, and Ter'ence (195-159 B. c), a learned and graceful 
humorist, were the two great comic poets of Rome.^ They were 
succeeded by Lucil'ius (148-103 b. c), a brave soldier and famous 
knight, whose sharp, fierce satire was poured relentlessly on Ro- 
man vice and folly. 

Among the early prose writers was Cato the Censor (234-149 B. c), 
son of a Sabine farmer, who was famous as lawyer, orator, sol- 
dier, and politician (p. 235). His hand-book on agriculture, ^^De 
Re Rustica," is still studied by farmers, and over one hundred and 
fifty of his strong, rugged orations find a place among the classics. 
His chief work, '' The Origines," a history of Rome, is lost. 

Varro (116-28 B. c), ^'the most learned of the Romans," first 
soldier, then farmer and author, wrote on theology, philosophy, 
history, agriculture, etc. He founded large hbraries and a mu- 
seum of sculpture, cultivated the fine arts, and sought to awaken 
literary tastes among his countrymen. 

To the last century B. c. belong the illustrious names of Virgil 
and Horace, Cicero, Livy, and Sallust. First in order of birth was 

Cicero,^ orator, essayist, and delightful letter-writer. Most elo- 

1 Ennius claimed tliat the soul of the old Greek bard had in its transmigration 
entered his body from its preceding home iu a peacock. He so impressed his intel- 
lectual personality upon the Romans that they wei'e sometimes called the " Ennian 
People." Cicero greatly admired his works, and Virgil borrowed as unscrupulously 
from Ennius, as Ennius had filched from Homer. 

2 It is noticeable that of all the poets we have mentioned, not one was born at 
Rome. Livius was a slave from Magua Gmecia; Najvius was a native of Campania; 
Ennius was a Calabrian, who came to Rome as a teacher of Greek ; Plautus (meaning 
flat-foot— his name being, like Plato, a sobrictuet) was an Umbrian, the son of a 
slave, and served in various menial employments before he began play-writing ; and 
Terence was the slave of a Roman senator. To be a Roman slave, however, was not 
incompatible with the possession of talents and education, since, by the pitiless 
rules of ancient warfare, the richest and most learned citizen of a captured town 
might become a drudge in a Rom-^n household, or be sent to labor in the mines. 

3 Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 b. c), son of a book-loving, country gentleman, 
was educated at Rome, studied law and philosophy at Athens, traveled two years in 
Asia Minor, and then settled in Rome as an advocate. Plunging into the politics of 
his time, he soon became famous for his thrilling oratory, and was made, in succes- 
liion, quaistor, sedile, praitor, and consul. For his detection of Catiline's conspiracy, 
ae received the title of Pater Patriaj. His subsequent banishment, recall, and 
tragic death are historical (p. 248). Cicero was accused of being vain, vacillating, 
unamiable, and extravagant. He had an elegant mansion on the Palatine Hill, and 



THE CIVILIZATION. 275 

quent of all tlie Romans, his brilliant genius was not exhausted in 
the rude contests of the Forum and Basilica, but expanded in 
thoughtful pohtical essays and gossipy letters. Cicero studied 
Greek models, and his four orations on the "' Conspiracy of Cati- 
line " rank not unfavorably with the Phihppics of Demosthenes. 
His orations, used for lessons in Roman schools before he died, 
are, with his essays, "De Republica," ^'De Officiis," and "De 
Senectute," famiHar Latin text-books of to-day. 

Salliist,^ a pohshed historian after the style of Thucydides, holds 
his literary renown by two short works, — ''The Conspiracy of 
Catihne" and " The Jugurthine War," which are remarkable for 
their condensed vigor and vivid portrayal of character. 

Virgil^ and Horace, poet-friends of the Augustan age, are well 
known to us. Virgil left ten " Eclogues," or "Bucolics," in which 
he patterned after Theocritus, a celebrated Sicilian poet of the 
Alexandrian age; ''The Georgics," a work on Roman agriculture 
and stock-breeding, in confessed imitation of Hesiod's ^' Works 
and Days J " and the "iEneid," modeled upon the Homeric poems. 

numerous country villas, his favorite one at Tusculum being built on tlie plan of tlie 
Academy at Atliens. Here he wallsed and tallied with his friends in a pleasant imi- 
tation of Aristotle, and here he had a maguilicent library of handsomely bound 
volumes, to which he continually added rare works, copied bj'^ his skillful Greek 
slaves. His favorite poet was Euripides, whose Medea (p. 169), it is said, he was 
reading when he was overtaken by his assassinators. 

1 Cuius Sallustius Crispus (86-34 b. c), who was expelled from the senate for 
immorality, served afterward in the civil war, and was made governor of Numidia 
by Julius Caesar. He grew enormously rich on his provincial plundeiings, and 
returned to Rome to build a magnificent palace on the edge of the Campus Martins, 
where, in the midst of beautiful gardens, groves, and flowers, he devoted his remain- 
ing years to study and friendship. 

2 The small paternal estate of PiCblius Virgilius Maro (70-19 u. C), which was 
confiscated after the fall of the republic, was restored to him by Augustus. The 
young country poet, who had been educated in Cremona, Milan, and Naples, ex- 
pressed his gratitude for the imperial favor in a Bucolic (sheplierd-poem), one of 
several addressed to various friends. Their merit and novelty— for they were the first 
Latin pastorals— attracted the notice of Maecenas, the confidential adviser of the em- 
peror; and presently " the tall, slouching, somewhat plebeian figure of Virgil was 
seen among the brilliant crowd of statesmen, artists, poets, and historians who 
thronged the audience-cliamber of the popular minister," in his sumptuous palace on 
the Esquiline Hill. Maecenas, whose wealth equaled his luxurious tastes, took great 
delight in encouraging men of letters, being himself well versed in Greek and Roman 
literature, the fine arts, and natural history. Acting upon his advice, Virgil wrote 
the Georgics, upon which he spent seven years. The iEneid was written to please 
Augustus, whose ancestry it traces back to the " pious .aHueas " of Troy, the hero of 
the poem. In his last illness, Virgil, who had not yet polished his great work to suit 
his fastidious tastes, would have destroj'ed it but for the entreaties of his friends. 
In accordance with his dying request, he was buried near Naples, where his tomb 
is still shown above the Posilippo Grotto. 



276 



ROME. 



His tender, brilliant, graceful, musical lines are on the tongue of 
every Latin student. The "^neid " became a text-book for the 
Httle Romans within fifty years after its author's death, and has 
never lost its place in the schoolroom. 




CICERO, VIKGIL, IIOKACE, AND SALLUST. 

Horace,^ in his early writings, imitated Archilochus and Lucilius, 
and himself says : — 

" The shafts of my passiou at random I flung, 
And, dashing headlong into petulant rhyme, 
I recked neither where nor how fiercely I stung." 

Ode 1. 15. 



1 Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 B. c), "the wit who never wounded, the poet 
who ever charmed, the friend who never failed," was the son of a freedman, w ho 
gave liis boy a thorough Roman education, and afterward sent him to Athens,— still 
the school of the world. Here he joined the army of Brutus, but after the defeat at 
Philippi,— where his bravery resembled that of Archilochus and Alcaeus (p. 164),— h« 
returned to Rome to find his father dead, and all his little fortune confiscated. Of 
this time he afterward wrote :— 

" Want stared me in the face ; so then and there 
I took to scribbling verse in sheer despair." 
The proceeds of his poems and the gifts of friends bought him a clerkship in the 
quaestor's department, and made him modestly independent. Virgil introduced him 



THE CIVILIZATION. 277 

But his kind, genial nature soon tempered this " petulant rhyme.'' 
His '^ Satires " are rambling, sometimes ironical, and always witty. 
Like Virgil, he loved to sing of country life. He wrote labori- 
ously, and carefully studied all his metaphors and phrases. His 
^'Odes" have a consummate grace and finish. 

Livy,^ who outlived Horace by a quarter of a century, wrote one 
hundred and forty-two volumes of '^ Roman History," beginning 
with the fabulous landing of ^neas, and closing with the death 
of Drusus (8 B. c). Thirty-five volumes remain. His grace, en- 
thusiasm, and eloquence make his pages delightful to read, though 
he is no longer accepted as an accurate historian. 

The 1st century a. d. produced the two Plinys, Tacitus, Ju- 
venal, and Seneca. 

Plimj the Elder^ is remembered for his '^ Natural History," a 
work of thirty-seven volumes, covering the whole range of the 
scientific knowledge of his time. 

FUni/ the Younger, the charming letter- writer, and Tacitus, the 
orator and historian, two rich, eloquent, and distinguished noble- 
men, were among the most famous intellectual men of their time.s 

to Maecenas, who took liiiu into an almost romantic friendship, lasting through 
life. From this generous patron he received the gift of the "Sabine Farm." to 
which he retired, and which he has immortalized hy his descriptions. He died a 
few months after his " dear knight Maecenas," to whom he had declared nearly a 
score of years before, 

" Ah, if untimely Fate should snatch thee hence. 

Thee, of my soul a part," 

"Think not that I have sworn a bootless oath. 

For we shall go, shall go. 

Hand linked in hand, where'er thou leadest, both 

The last sad road below." 

He was buried on the Esquiline Hill, by the side of his princely friend. 

1 Titus Living (59 B. C.-17 A. D.). Little is known of his private life except that 
he was the friend of the Caesars. So great was his renown in his own time, that, ac- 
cording to legend, a Spaniard traveled from Cadiz to Rome to see him, looked upon 
him, and contentedly retraced his journey. 

2 Of this Pliny's incessant research, his nephew (Pliny the Younger) writes; 
" From the twenty-third of August he began to study at midnight, and through 
the winter he rose at one or two in the morning. During his meals a book 
was read to him, he taking notes while it went on, for he read nothing without 
making extracts. In fact he thought all time lost which was not given to study." 
Besides his Natural History. Pliny the Elder wrote over sixty books on History, 
Rhetoric, Education, and Military Tactics: he also left "one hundred and sixty 
volumes of Extracts, written on both sides of the leaf, and in the minutest hand." 
His eagerness to learn cost him his life, tor he perished in approaching too near 
Vesuvius, in the great eruption which buried Pompeii and Herculaueum (79 A. l).). 

3 Tacitus was sitting one day in the circus, watching tlie games, when a stranger 
entered into a learned disquisition with him, and after a while inquired, " Are you 



278 ROME. 

They scanned and criticised each other's manuscript, and became 
by their intimacy so linked with each other that they were jointly 
mentioned in people's wills, legacies to friends being a fashion of 
the day. Of the w^ritings of Tacitus, there remain a part of the 
^'Annals" and the ^'History of Rome," a treatise on ''Germany," 
and a '^Life of Agricola." Of Phny, we have only the *' Epistles" 
and a "Eulogium upon Trajan." The style of Tacitus was grave 
and stately, sometimes sarcastic or ironical 5 that of Pliny was 
vivid, graceful, and circumstantial. 

Seneca (7 B. C.-65 a. d.), student, poet, orator, and stoic philoso- 
pher, employed his restless intellect in brilliant ethical essays, 
tragedies, and instructive letters written for the public eye.^ His 
teachings were remarkable for their moral purity, and the Chris- 
tian Fathers called him "The Divine Pagan." 

Juvenal, the mocking, eloquent, cynical satirist, belongs to the 
close of the century. His writings are unsurpassed in scathing 
denunciations of vice.'^ 

Libraries and Writing Materials. — The Roman stationery dif- 
fered httlefrom the Grecian (p. 178). The passion for collecting 
books was so great that private libraries sometimes contained over 
sixty thousand volumes.^ The scriba and lihrarii, slaves who were 
attached to library service, were an important part of a Roman 
gentleman's household. Fifty or a hundred copies of a book were 
often made at the same time, one scribe reading while the others 

of Italy or from the provinces'?"— " You kuow me from your reading," replied the 
historian. " Then," rejoined the other, " you must he either Tacitus or Pliny." 

1 Seneca was the tutor and guardian of the young Nero, and in later days carried 
his friendship so far as to write a defense of the murder of Agiippina. But Nero 
was poor and in debt ; Seneca was immensely rich. To charge him with conspiracy, 
sentence him to death, and seize his vast estates, was a policy characteristic of Nero. 
Seneca, then an old man, met his fate bravely and cheerfully. His young wife re- 
solved to die with liim, and opened a vein in her arm with the same weapon with 
which he had punctured his own, but Nero ordered her wound to be ligatured. As 
Seneca suffered greatly in dying, his slaves, to shorten his pain, suflfocated him in a 
vapor bath. 

2 Juvenal's stj^le is aptly characterized in his description of another noted satirist : 

" But when Lucilius, fired witli virtuous rage, 
Waves his keen falchion o'er a guilty age. 
The conscious villain shudders at his sin. 
And burning blushes speak the pangs within; 
Cold drops of sweat from every member roll. 
And growing terrors harrow vip his soul." 

3 Seneca ridiculed the fashionable pretensions of illiterate men who " adorn their 
rooms with thousands of books, the titles of which are the delight of the yawning 
owner." 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



279 



wrote. ^ Papyrus, as it was loss expensive than parchment, was 
& favorite material. The thick black ink used in writing was 
made from soot and g-um ; red mk was employed for ruling the 
columns. The Egyptian reed-pen {calamus) was still in vogue. 




ROMAN LIBUARY. 



1 A book was "written upon separate strips of papyrus. When the work was 
completed, the strips were glued together; tlie last page was fastened to a hollow 
reed, over which tlie whole was wound ; the bases of the roll were carefully cut, 
emootlied, and dyed ; a small stick was passed through the reed, the ends of which 
were adorned with ivory, golden, or painted knobs {umbilici) ; the roll was wrapped in 
parchment, to protect it from the ravages of worms, and tlie title-label was affixed:— 
the book was then ready for the library shelf or circular case {scrinium). Tlie poitrait 
of tlie antlior usually appeared on the first page, and tlie title of the book was written 
both at the beginning and the end. Sheets of parchment were folded and sewed in 
different sizes, like modern books.— An author read the first manuscript of his new 
work before as large an audience as he could command, and judged from its recep- 
tion whether it would pay to publish. " If j'ou want to recite," says Juvenal, 
"Macnlonus will lend you liis liouse, will range his freedmen on the furthest benches, 
and will put in the proper places his strong-lunged friends (these corresponded to our 
modern claqueurs or hired applauders) ; but he will not give what it costs to hire 
the benches, act up the galleries, and till the stage with chairs." Tliese readings often 
became a bore, and Pliny writes: "Thi.s year has brought us a great crop of poets. 
Audiences come slowly and reluctantly ; even tlien tliey do not stop, but go away 
before the end; some indeed by stealth, others with perfect openness." 



280 ROME. 

There were twenty-nine public libraries at Rome. The most 
important was founded by the emperor Trajan, and called — from 
hisiiomeii (p. 270), Ulpius— the Ulpian Library. 

Education. — As early as 450 b. c. Rome had elementary schools, 
where boys and girls were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
music. The Roman boy mastered his alphabet at home by play- 
ing with lettered blocks. At school he chanted the letters, syl- 
lables, and words in class, after the teacher's dictation. Arithmetic 
was learned by the aid of his fingers, or with stone counters and 
a tablet ruled in columns ; the counters expressing certain values, 
according to the columns on which they were placed. He learned 
to write on wax tablets (p. 178), his little fingers being guided by 
the firm hand of the master; afterward he used pen and ink, and 
the blank side of secondhand slips of papyrus.^ Boys of wealthy 
parents were a<?bompanied to school by a slave, who carried their 
books, writing tablets, and counting boards, and also by a Greek 
pedagogue, who, among other duties, practiced them in his native 
language. Girls were attended by female slaves. 

Livius Andronicus opened a new era in school education. En- 
nius, Nsevius, and Plautus added to the Livian text-books, and 
the study of Greek became general. In later times there were ex- 
cellent higher schools where the masterpieces of Greek and Latin 
literature were carefully analyzed. State jurisprudence was not 
neglected, and every schoolboy was expected to repeat the Twelve 
Tables from memory. Rhetoric and declamation were given great 
importance, and boys twelve years old made set harangues on 
the most solemn occasions.^ As at Athens, the boy of sixteen years 

1 The copies set for him were usually some moral maxim, ami, doubtless, many a 
Roman schoollDoy labored over that trite proverb quoted from Menander by Paul, 
and which still graces many a writing-book: "Evil communications corrupt good 
manners."— Roman schoolmasters were very severe in the use of the ferula. Plautus 
says that for missing a single letter in his reading, a boy was " striped like his nurse's 
cloak "witli the black and blue spots left by the rod. Horace, two centuries later, 
anathematized his teacher as Orbilius plagosus (Orbilius of the birch) ; and Martial, 
the witty epigrammatist and friend of Juvenal, declares that in his time " the morn- 
ing air resounded with the noise of floggings and the cries of suffering urchins." 

2 Julius Ciesar pronounced in his twelfth year the funeral oration of his aunt, and 
Augustus performed a similar feat. The technical rules of rhetoric and declamation 
were so minute, that, while tliey gave no play for genius, they took away the risk of 
failure. Not>nly the form, the turns of thought, the cadences, everything except the 
actual words, were modeled to a pattern, but the manner, the movements, the ar- 
rangement of the dress, and the tones of the voice, were subject to rigid rules. The 
hair was to be sedulously coifed ; explicit directions governed the use of tlie hand- 
kerchief ; the orator's steps in advance or retreat, to right or to left, were all num- 
bered. He might rest only so many minutes on each foot, and place one only so 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



281 



formally entered into manhood, the 
event being celebrated with certain 
ceremonies at home and in the Forum 
and by the assumption of a new style 
of toga, or robe (p. 295). He could 
now attend the instruction of any phil- 
osopher or rhetorician he chose, and 
visit the Forum and Tribunals, being- 
generally escorted by some man of 
note selected by his father. He finished 
his education by a course in Athens. 

Monuments and Art. — The early 
Italian temples were copied from the 
Etruscans ; the later ones were modifi- 
cations of the Grecian. Round temples 
(Etruscan) were commonly dedicated 
to Vesta or Diana ; sometimes a dome ^ 
and portico were added, as in the 
Pantheon. 

The Basilica,^^ or Hall of Justice, 
was usually rectangular, and divided into three or five aisles by 
rows of columns, the middle aisle being widest. At the extremity 
was a semicircular, arched recess {apse) for the tribunal, in front 
of which was an altar, all important public business being pre- 
ceded by sacrifice. 

Magnificent Palaces were built by the Caesars, of which the 
Golden House of Nero, begun on the Palatiue and extending by 
means of intermediate structures to the Esquiline, is a familiar 
example.^ At Tibur (the modern Tivoli), Hadrian had a variety 




ROMAN TOGA. 



many inches before the other ; the elbow must not rise above a certain angle ; the 
fingers should be set off with rings, biit not too many or too large; and in raising 
the hand to exhibit tliera, care must be taken not to disturb the head-dress. Every 
emotion had its prescribed gesture, and tlie heartiest applause of the audience was 
for the perfection of the pantomime. This requiivn incL-ftsaiit practicf, and Augustus, 
it is said, never allowed a day to pass witliout spending an hour in declamation. 

1 Vaulted domes and large porticoes are characteristic of Roman architecture. 
The favorite column was tlio Corinthian, for which a new composite capital was in- 
vented. The foundation stone of a temple was laid on the day consecrated to tlie god 
to whom it was erected, and tlie building was made to face the point of the sun's 
rising on that morning. The finest specimens of Roman temple architecture are at 
Palmyra and Baalbec in Syria. 

2 The early Christian churches were all modeled after the Basilica. 

8 A court in front, surrounded by a triple colonnade a mile long, contained the em- 



282 ROME. 

of structures, imitating and named after the most celebrated 
buildings of different provinces, such as the Temple of Serapis 
at Canopus in Egypt, and the Lyceum and Academy at Athens. 
Even the Valley of Tempe, and Hades itself, were here typified 
in a labyrinth of subterranean chambers. 

In Military Roads, Bridges, Aqueducts, and Harbors, the Ro- 
mans displayed gi^eat genius. Even the splendors of Nero's golden 
house dwindle into nothing compared with the harbor of Ostia, 
the drainage works of the Fucinine Lake, and the two large aque- 
ducts. Aqua Claudia and Anio Nova.^ 

Military Roads.— UnYi^Q the Greeks, who generally left their 
roads where chance or custom led, the Romans sent out their high- 
ways in straight hues from the capital, overcoming all natural dif- 
ficulties as they went; filling in hollows and marshes, or spanning 
them with viaducts; tunneling rocks and mountains; bridging 
streams and valleys ; sparing neither labor nor money to make 
them perfect. 2 Along the principal ones were placed temples, 

peror's statue, one hundred and twenty feet high. In other courts were gardens, 
vineyards, meadows, artificial i)onds with rows of houses on their hanks, and woods 
inhabited by tame and ferocious animals. The walls of the rooms were covered with 
gokl and jewels ; and the ivory with which the ceiling of the dining-halls was inlaid 
was made to slide hack, so as to admit a rain of roses or fragrant waters on the heads 
of the carousers. Under Otho, this gigantic building was continued at an expense of 
over $2,500,000, but only to be pulled down for the greater part by Vespasian. Titus 
erected his Baths on the Esquiline foundation of the Golden Palace, and the Colos- 
seum covers the site of one of the ponds. 

1 The Lacus Fucinus in the country of the Marsi was the cause of dangerous inun- 
dations. To prevent this, and to gain the bed of the lake for agricultural pursuits, a 
shaft was cut through tlie solid rock from the lake down to the river Liris, whence 
the water was discharged into the Mediterranean. The work occupied thirty 
thousand men for eleven years. The Aqua Claudia was fed by two springs in the 
Sabine mountain, and was forty -five Roman miles in length; the Anio Nova, fed 
from the river Anio, was sixty-two miles long. These aqueducts extended partly 
above and partly under ground, until about six miles from Rome, where they joined, 
and were carried one above the other on a common structure of arches— in some 
places one hundred and nine feet high— into the citj'. 

2 In building a road, the line of direction was first laid out, and the breadth, which 
was usually from thirteen to fifteen feet, marked by trenches. The loose earth be- 
tween the trenches liaving been excavated till a firm base was reached, the space 
was filled up to the proposed height of the road, which was sometimes twenty feet 
above the solid ground. First was placed a layer of small stones ; next broken 
stones cemented with lime ; then a mixture of lime, clay, and beaten fragments of 
brick and pottery; and finally a mixture of pounded gravel and lime, or a pavement 
of hard, flat stones, cut into rectangular slabs or irregular polygons. All along the 
roads milestones were erected. Near the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman 
Forum may still be seen the remains of tlie " Golden Milestone" (erected by Augus- 
tus),— a gilded marble pillar on which were recorded the names of the roads, and 
their length from the metropolis. 



THE CIVILIZATION 



283 



triumphal arches, and sepulchral monuments. The Appian Way 
— called also licgina Viarum (Queen of Roads) — was famous for 
the number, beauty, and richness of its tombs. Its foundations 
were laid 312 b. c. by the censor Appius Claudius, from whom it 
was named. 




BKIUGE OK ST. ANGKr,0, AN'H IIADKIAN'S TOMi: : i;l- > 1 . .i;l ! .. 

The Roman Bridges and Viaducts are among the most remarkable 
monuments of antiquity. In Greece, where streams were narrow, 
little attention was paid to bridges, which were usually of wood, 
resting at each exti'emity upon stone piers. The Ilomans applied 
the arch, of which the Greeks knew little or nothing, to the con- 
struction of massive stone bridges i crossing the wide rivers of their 
various provinces. In like manner, marshy places or valleys liable 
to inundation were spanned by viaducts resting on solid arches. 
Of these bridges, which may still be seen in nearly eveiy corner of 
the old Roman Empire, one of the most interesting is the Pons 



1 In early times tlie bridi^ea aeiiKss the Tiber were regarded as saered, and their 
care was cimtided to a special body of piiests, called pontijices (bridge makers). The 
name of Pontifez Maximus remained atta<hed to the high itriest, and was worn by 
tlie Itonian emiteror. It is now given to tlio Pope. Bridges were sometimes made 
of wood-work and masonry combined. 



284 ROME. 

^lius, now called the Bridge of St. Angelo, built by Hadrian 
across the Tiber in Rome. 

Aqueducts were constructed on the most stupendous scale, and 
at one time no less than twenty stretched their long hues of 
arches i across the Campagna, bringing into the heart of the city 
as many streams of water from scores of miles away. 

In their stately Harbors the Romans showed the same defiance 
of natural difficulties. The lack of bays and promontories was 
supplied by dams and walls built far out into the sea 5 and even 
artificial islands were constructed to protect the equally artificial 
harbor. Thus, at Ostia, three enormous pillars, made of chalk, 
mortar, and Pozzuolan clay, were placed upright on the deck of a 
colossal ship, which was then sunk ; the action of the salt water 
hardening the clay, rendered it indestructible, and formed an 
island f oundation.^ Other islands were made by sinking flat vessels 
loaded with huge blocks of stone. Less imposing, but no less use- 
ful, were the canals and ditches, by means of which swamps and 
bogs were transformed into arable land; and the subterranean 
sewers in Rome, which, built twenty-five hundred years ago, still 
serve their original purpose. 

Triumphal Arches,^ erected at the entrance of cities, and across 
streets, bridges, and public roads, in honor of victorious generals 
or emperors, or in commemoration of some great event, were 
peculiar to the Romans ; as were also the 

Amphitheaters,"^ the Flavian, better known as the Colosse'um, 
being the most famous. This structure was built mostly of blocks 

1 Their remains, strikiug across the desolate Campagna iu various directions, and 
covered witli ivy, maiden-hair, wild flowers, and fig-trees, form one of the most pic- 
turesque features in the landscape about Home. "Wherever you go, these arches 
are visible; and toward nightfall, glowing iu the splendor of a Roman sunset, and 
printing their lengthening sun-looped shadows upon the illuminated slopes, they look 
as if the hand of Midas had touched them, and changed their massive blocks of cork- 
like travertine into crusty courses of molten gold."— ^Stori/'s Roha diHoma. 

2 Manj"^ of these arches still remain. The principal ones in Rome are those of 
Titus and Constantino, near the Colosseum, aud that of Septimius Severus in the 
Roman Forum. The Arch of Titus, built of white marble, commemorates the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. On the bas-reliefs of the interior are represented the golden 
table, the seven-branched candlestick, aud other precious spoils from the Jewish 
Temple, carried in triumphal procession by the victors. To this day no Jew will 
walk under this arch. 

s The Roman theater differed little from the Grecian (p. 187, note). The first 
amphitheater, made in the time of Julius Civsar, consisted of two wooden theaters, so 
placed upon pivots that they could be wheeled around, spectators and all, and either 
set back to back, for two separate dramatic performances, or face to face, making a 
closed arena for gladiatorial shows. 



THE CIVILIZATION. 



285 



of travertine, clamped with iron and faced with marble ; it covered 
about five acres, and seated eighty thousand persons. At its 
dedication by Titus (a. d. 80), which lasted a hundred days, five 
thousand wild animals were thrown into the arena. It continued 
to be used for gladiatorial and wild-beast fights for nearly four 
hundred years. On various public occasions it was splendidly 
fitted up with gold, silver, or amber furniture. 




THE UUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM. 



The Thermce (public baths, literally ivarm ivaters) were constructed 
on the grandest scale of refinement and luxury. The Baths of 
Caracalla, at Rome, contained sixteen hundred rooms, adorned with 
precious marbles. Here were painting and sculpture galleries, 
libraries and museums, porticoed halls, open groves, and an impe- 
rial palace. 

The arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Pottery were borrowed first 
from the Etruscans, and then from the Greeks ; ^ in mosaics the 



1 " Romau art," saj-s Zerffi, " is a misnomer; it is Ktrnscan, Greek, Assyrian, and 
Epryptian art, dressed in an eclectic Roman garb by foreign artists. The Pantheon 
contained a Greek statue of Venus, wliicli, it is said, liad in one ear the half of tlie 
pearl left bj' Cleopatra. To ornament a Greek marble statue representing a goddess 
•with part of tlie earring of an Egyptian princess Is highly characteristic of Roman 
taste in matters of art." 



286 " ROME. 

Romans excelled. ^ In later times Rome was filled with the mag- 
nificent spoils taken from conquered provinces, especially Greece. 
Greek artists flooded the capital, bringing their native ideality to 
serve the ambitious desires of the more practical Romans, whose 
dwelHngs grew more and more luxurious, until exquisitely fres- 
coed walls, mosaic pavements, rich paintings, and marble statues 
became common ornaments in hundreds of elegant villas. 



3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

General Character. — However much they might come in contact, 
the Roman and the Greek character never assimilated. We have seen 
the Athenian quick at intuition, poHshed in manner, art-loving, beauty- 
worshiping; fond of long discussions and philosophical discourses, 
and listening all day to sublime tragedies. We find the Roman grave, 
steadfast, practical, stern, unsympathizing ; 2 too loyal and sedate to 
indulge in much discussion ; too unmetaphysical to relish philosophy ; 
and too unideal to enjoy tragedy. The Spartan deified endiu-ance ; 
the Athenian worshiped beauty; the Roman was embodied dignity. 
The Greeks were proud and exclusive, but not uncourteous to other 
nations; the Romans had but one word (hostis) for strangers and 
enemies. Ambitious, determined, unfiinching, they pushed their 
armies in every direction of the known world, and, appropriating 
every valuable achievement of the peoples they conquered, made all 

1 The mosaic floors, composed of bits of marble, glass, and valuable stones, were 
often of most elaborate designs. One discovered in the so-called House of tlie Faun, 
at Pompeii, is a remarkable battle scene, supposed to represent Alexander at Issus. 
It is preserved, somewhat mutilated, in the museum at Naples. 

2 What we call sentiment was almost unknown to the Romans. The Greeks 
had a word to express affectionate family love ; the Romans had none. Cicero, 
whom his countrymen could not understand, was laughed at for his grief at the death 
of his daughter. The exposure of infants was sanctioned as in Greece,— girls, espe- 
cially, suffering from this unnatural custom,— and the power of the Roman father 
over the life of his children was paramount. Yet Roman fathers took much pains 
with their boys, sharing in tlieir games and pleasures, directing their habits, and 
taking them about tf)wn. Horace writes gratefully of his father, who remained with 
liim at Rome during liis school-days and was his constant attendant.— Saffre I. 4. 

It is not strange, considering their indifference to their kindred, that the Romans 
were cruel and heartless to their slaves. In Greece, even the helot was granted some 
little consideration as a human being, but in Rome the unhappy captive— who may 
have been a prince iu his own land— was but a cliattel. The lamprey eels in a certain 
nobleman's fish-pond were fattened on the flesh of liis bondmen ; and, if a Roman 
died suspiciously, all his slaves— who sometimes were numbered by thousands- 
were put to the torture. The women are accused of being more pitiless than the 
men, and the faces of the ladies' maids bore perpetual marks of the blows, scratches, 
and pin-stabs of their petulant mistresses. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 287 

the borrowed arts their own, hivishiiif,' the precious spoils upon their 
beloved Rome. Their pride in Roman citizenship amounted to a pas- 
sion, and for the prosperity of their capital they were ready to re- 
nounce the dearest personal hope, and to cast aside all mercy or justice 
toward every other nation. 

Religion. — The Romans, like the Greeks, worshiped the powers 
of nature. But the Grecian gods and goddesses were living, loving, 
hating, quarrelsome beings, with a history full of romantic incident 
and personal adventure ; the Roman deities were solemn abstractions 
mysteriously governing every human action,! and requiring constant 
propitiation with vows, prayers, gifts, and sacrifices. A regular system 
of bargaining existed between the Roman worshiper and his gods. 
If he performed all the stipulated religious duties, the gods were 
bound to confer a reward; if he failed in the least, the divine ven- 
geance was sure. At the same time, if he could detect a flaw in 
the letter of the law, or shield himself behind some doubtful techni- 
cality, he might cheat the gods with impunity. 2 There was no room 
for faith, or hope, or love — only the binding nature of legal forms. 
Virtue, in our modern sense, was unknown, and piety consisted, as 
Cicero declares, in ''justice toward the gods." 

In religion, as in everything else, the Romans were always ready 
to borrow from other nations. Their image-worship came from the 
Etruscans ; their only sacred volumes 3 were the purchased '' Sibylline 
Books ; " they drew upon the gods of Greece, imtil in time they had 
transferred and adopted nearly the entire Greek Pantheon ; ^ Phoenicia 

1 Tlie fiirmer liad to satisfy "the spirit of breaking up the land and the spirit of 
plowing it crosswise, the spiilt of furrowing and the spirit of harrowing, the spirit 
of weeding and the spirit of reaping, the spirit of carrying the grain to the barn and 
the spirit of bringing it out again." The little child was attended by over forty 
gods. Vaticanus taught him to cry; Fabulinus, to speak; Edusa, to eat; Potina, to 
drink; Abeona conducted him out of the house; Interduca guided him on his way; 
Doniiduca led him home, and Adeona brought him in. 

2 "If a man offered wine to Father Jupiter, and did not mention very precisely 
that it was only the cup-full which he held in his hand, the god might claim the whole 
year's vintage. On the other hand, if the god required so many heads in sacrifice, by 
the letter of the bond ho would be bound to accept garlic-heads ; if he claimed an 
animal, it might be made out of dough or wax."— TFilfcrns's Roman Antiquities. 

3 The Egj-ptians had their Ritual ; the Hindoos, their Vedas ; the Chinese, their 
Laws of Confucius; the Hebrews, the Psalms and prayers of David; but neither 
Greeks nor Romans had books such as these. They had poetrj- of the highest order, 
but no psalms or hj-nins, litanies or prayers. 

4 Jupiter (Zeus) and Vesta (Hestia) were derived by Greeks and Tlomans from 
their common ancestors. Among the other early Italian gods were Mars (afterward 
ideutilied with the Greek Ares), Hercules (Herakles), Juno (Hera), Minerva (Athena), 
and Neptune (Poseidon). The union of the Palatine Romans with the Quirinal 
Sabines was celebrated by the mutual worship of Quirinus, and a gate called the 
Janus was erected in the valley, afterward the site of the Forum. This gate was 



288 



ROME 



and Phrygia lent their deities to swell the 
list ; and finally our old Egyptian friends, 
Isis, Osiris, and Serapis, became as mnch 
at home upon the Tiber as they had been 
for ages on the Nile. The original religious 
ideas of the Romans can only be inferred 
from a few peculiar rites which character- 
ized their worship. The Chaldeans had 
astrologers ; the Persians had magi ; the 
Greeks had sibyls and oracles ; the Romans 
had 
Augurs. Practical and unimaginative, the 
Latins would never have been content to learn 
the divine will through the ambiguous phrases 
of a human prophet ; they demanded a direct yes 
or no from the gods themselves. Augurs existed 
from the time of Romulus. Without their as- 
sistance no public act or ceremony could be 
performed. Lightning and the tlight of birds 
were the principal signs by which the gods were 
supposed to make known their will ; i some 
birds of omen commimicated by their cry, others by their manner of 
flight. 

The Harusjnces, who also expounded lightnings and natural phe- 
nomena, made a specialty of divination by inspecting the internal 
organs of sacrificed animals, a custom we have seen in Greece (p. 185). 




ROMAN AUGUR. 



always opeu in time of war, and closed in time of peace. All gates and doors were 
sacred to the old Latin god Janus, whose key fitted every lock. He wore two faces, 
one before and one behind, and was the god of all beginnings and endings, all open- 
ings and shuttings.— With the adoption of the Greek gods, the Greek ideas of per- 
sonality and mythology were introduced, the Romans being too unimaginative to 
originate any myths for themselves. But, out of the hardness of their own character, 
they disfigured the original conception of every borrowed god, and made him more 
jealous, threatening, merciless, revengeful, and inexorable than before. "Among 
the tliirty thousand deities with which they peopled the visible and invisible worlds, 
there was not one divinity of kindness, mercj% or comfort." 

1 In taking tlie auspices, the augur stood in the center of a con- N 

secrated square, and divided tlie sky with his Ptaflf into quarters (cut) ; 
he then offered hia prayers, and, turning to the south, scanned tlie 
heavens for a reply. Coming from the left, the signs were favorable ; 
from the right, unfavorable. If the first signs were not desirable, 
the augurs had only to wait until the right ones came. They thus " 

compelled the gods to sanction their decisions, from whicli there was afterward no 
appeal. In the absence of an augur, the "Sacred Chickens," which were carried 
about in coops during campaigns, were consulted. If they ate tlieir food greedily, 
especially if they scattered it, the omen was favorable; if they refused to eat, or 
moped in the coop, evil was anticipated. 



w 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 289 

Their art was never much esteemed by the more enlightened classes ; 
and Cato, who detested their hypocrisy, wondered "how one haruspex 
could look at another in the streets without laughing." 

The FamUij Worship of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, was more 
exclusive in Rome than in Greece, where slaves joined in the home 
devotions. A Roman father, himself the priest at this ceremony, 
would liave been shocked at allowing any but a kinsman to be present, 
for it included the worship of the Lares and Penates, the spirits of 
his ancestors and the guardians of his house. So, also, in the public 
ser\ice at the Temple of Vesta, the national hearth-stone, the patricians 
felt it a sacrilege for any but themselves to join. The worship of 
Vesta, Saturnus (the god of seed-sowing), and Opo (the harvest god- 
dess) was under the direction of the 

College of Fontificcs, of which, in regal times, the king was high 
priest. Attached to this priestly college — the highest in Rome — were 
the Flamens'^ {flare, to blow the fire), who were priests of Jupiter, 
Mars, and Quirinus ; and the Vestal Virgins, who watched the eternal 
fire in the Temple of Vesta. 2 

TJic Salii, or "leaping priests," receive their name from the war- 
like dance which, in full armor, they performed every March be- 
fore all the temples. They had the care of the Sacred Shields, which 
they carried about in- their annual processions, beating them to the 

1 Tlie FLamen Dialis (Priest of Jupiter) was forbidden to take an oath, mount a 
lioise, or glance at an army. His hand could touch nothing unclean, and he never 
approached a corpse or a tomb. As lie must not look at a fetter, the ring on his 
finger was a broken one, and, as he could not wear a knot, his tliick woolen toga, 
woven bj' his wife, was fastened with buckles. (In Egj'pt, we remember, priests 
were forbidden to wear woolen, p. 20.) If his head-dress (a sort of circular pillow, on 
the top of which an olive-branch was fastened by a white woolen thread) chanced to 
fall off, he was obliged to resign his office. In his belt he cairied the sacrificial knife, 
and in his hand he held a rod to keep off the people on his waj' to sacrifice. As he 
might not look on any secular emplo3'ment, he was preceded by a lictor, who com- 
pelled every one to lay down Ids work till the Flamen had passed. His duties were 
continuous, and he could not remain for a night awaj" from his house on the Palatine. 
His wife was subject to an equallj' rigid code. She wore long woolen robes, and 
shoes made of the leather of sacrificed animals. Her hair was tied with a purple 
woolen ribbon, over which was a kerchief, fastened with a twig from a lucky tree. 
She also carried a sacrificial knife. 

2 The Vestal alwaj'S dressed in white, with a broad band, like a diadem, round 
her forehead. During sacrifice or in processions she was covered witli a white veil. 
She was chosen for the service when from six to ten years old, and her vows held for 
thirty years, after which time, if she chose, she was released and might marry. 
Any offense offered her was punished with death. In public, everj' one, even the 
consul, made way for the lictor preceding tlie maiden, and she had the seat of honor 
at all public games and priestly banquets. If, however, she accidentally suft'ered the 
sacred fire to go out, she wa9 liable to corporeal punishment by the pontifex maxi- 
mus; if she broke her vows, she was carried on a bier to the Cami)us Sceleratus, 
beaten witli rods, and buried alive. The number of vestal virgins never exceeded 
Six at any one time. 



290 ROME. 

time of an old song in praise of Janus, Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, 
and Mars. One of the shields was believed to have fallen from 
heaven. To mislead a possible pillager of so precious a treasure, 
eleven more were made exactly like it, and twelve priests were ap- 
pointed to watch them all. 

The Fetiales had charge of the sacred rites accompanying declara- 
tions of war, or treaties of peace. War was declared by throwing a 
bloody spear across the enemy's frontier. A treaty was concluded by 
the killing of a pig with a sacred pebble. 

Altars were erected to the emperors, where vows and prayers 
were daily offered.! In the times of Roman degeneracy the city was 
flooded with quack Chaldean astrologers, Syi'ian seers, and Jewish 
fortune-tellers. The women, especially, were ruled by these corrupt 
im;^ostors, whom they consulted in secret and by night, and on whom 
they squandered immense sums. Under these debasing influences, 
profligacies and enormities of every kind grew and multiplied. The 
old Roman law which commanded that the parricide should be 
''sewn up in a sack with a viper, an ape, a dog, and a cock, and then 
cast into the sea," was not likely to be rigidly enforced when a parri- 
cide sat on the throne, and poisonings were common in the palace. 
That the j)ure principles of Christianity, which were introduced at 
this time, should meet with contempt, and its disciples with bitter 
persecution, was inevitable. 

Games and Festivals. — The Roman public games were a degraded 
imitation of the Grecian, and, like them, connected with religion. 
When a divine favor was desired, a vow of certain games was made, 
and, as the gods regarded promises with suspicion, the expenses were 
at once raised. Each of the great gods had his own festival month 
and day. 

The Saturnalia, which occurred in December, and which in later 
times lasted seven days, was the most remarkable. It was a time of 
general mirth and feasting ; schools were closed ; the senate adjourned ; 
presents were made ; wars were forgotten ; criminals had certain 
privileges ; and the slaves, whose lives were ordinarily at the mercy 
of their masters, were permitted to jest with them, and were even 
waited upon by them at table ; — all this in memory of the free and 
happy rule of ancient Saturn. 

The gymnastic and musical exercises of the Greeks never found 
much favor in Rome ; tragedies were tolerated only for the splendor 
of the costumes and the scenic wonders ; and even comedies failed to 

1 " Not even the Egyptians, crouching in grateful adroiration before a crocodile, so 
outraged humanity as did tlioso polite Romans, rendering divine honors to au em- 
peror like Aurelius Commodus, who fought seven hundred and thirty-five times as a 
common gladiator in the arena before his enervated people."— Zer^. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



291 



satisfy a Roman audience. Farces and pantomimes won great ap- 
plause ; horse and cliariot races were exciting pleasures from the time 
of the kings ; but, of all delights, nothing could stir Rome like a 
gladiatorial or wild-beast fight. At first connected with the Saturnalia, 
the sports of the arena soon became too popular to be restricted, and 
mourning sons in high life paid honors to a deceased father by 
furnishing a public fight, in which from twenty-five to seventy-five 
gladiators were hired to take part, the contest often lasting for days. 




THE ULAUIATOUS ("POLLICE VEKSO," rAlNllNG BY GEKOME). 



Gladiatorial Shows were advertised by private circulars or public 
announcements. On the day of the performance, the gladiators marched 
in solemn procession to the arena, where they were matched in pairs, l 

1 The gladiators foufflit iu pairs or in matclied numbers. A favorite duel was 
between a man without arms, but who canied a net iu which to iusnarc his opponent, 
and a three-pronged fork with which to spear liim when caught, aiul another man in 
full armor, whose safety lay in evading his enemy while he pursued and killed him. 
"It is impossible to describe the aspect of an amphitheater when gladiators 
fought. The audience became frantic with excitement; they rose from their seats; 
they yelled ; they shouted their applause as a ghastly blow was dealt which sent the 
life-blood spouting forth. ' Hoc JiaJ)et'—'h6 has it'— 'he has it,' burst from ten 
thousand throats, and was re-echoed, not only by a brutalized populace, but by 



292 ROME. 

and their weapons formally examined. "An awning gorgeous with 
purple and gold excluded the rays of the mid-day sun ; sweet strains 
of music floated in the air, drowning the cries of death ; the odor of 
Syrian perfumes overpowered the scent of blood ; the eye was feasted 
by the most brilliant scenic decorations, and amused by elaborate 
machinery," At the sound of a bugle and the shout of command, the 
battle opened. When a gladiator was severely wounded, he dropped 
his weapons, and held up his forefinger as a plea for his life. This 
was sometimes in the gift of the people; often the privilege of the 
vestal virgins ; in imperial times, the prerogative et the emperor. A 
close-pressed thumb or the waving of a handkerchief meant mercy; 
an extended thumb and clinched upright fist forbade hope. Cowards 
had nothing to expect, and were whipped or branded with hot irons 
till they resumed the fight. The killed and mortally wounded were 
dragged out of the arena with a hook. 

The Wild-heast Fights were still more revolting, especially when 
untrained captives or criminals were forced to the encounter. Many 
Christian martyrs, some of whom were delicate women, perished in 
the Colosseum. We read of twenty maddened elephants turned in 
upon six hundred war captives ; and in Trajan's games, which lasted 
over one hundred and twenty days, ten thousand gladiators fought, and 
over that number of wild beasts were slain. Sometimes the animals, 
made furious by hunger or fire, were let loose at one another. Great 
numbers of the most ferocious beasts were imported from distant 
countries for these combats. Strange animals were sought after, and 
camelopards, white elephants, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, 
goaded to fury, delighted the assembled multitudes. Noble game be- 
came scarce, and at last it was forbidden by law to kill a Getulian lion 
out of the arena, even in self-defense. 

Naval Fights, in flooded arenas, were also popular. The Colosseum 
was sometimes used for this purpose, as many as thirty vessels taking 
part. At an entertainment given by Augustus in the flooded arena of 
the Flaminian Circus, thirty-six crocodiles were pursued and killed. 

Marriage was of two kinds. In one the bride passed from the 
control of her father into that of her husband; in the other the 

imperial lips, by purple-clad senators and knights, by noble matrons and consecrated 
maids." -Shep2iard's Fall of Borne. So frenzied with the sight of blood did the 
spectators become, that they would rush into the arena and slay on every side ; and 
so sweet was the applause of the mob, that captives, slaves, and criminals were envied 
tlie monopoly of the gladiatorial contest, and laws were required to restrict knights 
and senators from entering the lists. Some of the emperors fought publicly in the 
arena, and even women thus debased themselves. Finally, such was the mania, that 
no wealthy or patrician family was without its gladiators, and no festival was com- 
plete without a contest. Even at banquets, blood was the only stimulant that roused 
the Jaded appetite of a Roman. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



2i^5 




DRESSING A ROMAN BRIUE. 



parental power was retained. The former kind of marriage could be 
contracted in any one of three different ways. Of tliese, the religious 
form was confined to the patricians ; the 
presence of the pontifex maximus, the priest 
of Jupiter, and ten citizens, Avas necessary 
as witnesses ; a sacred cake {far) was 
broken and solemnly tasted by the nuptial 
pair, whence this ceremony was termed 
confarrcatio. A second manner was by pur- 
chase (coemptio), in which the father for- 
mally sold his daughter to the groom, she 
signifying her consent before witnesses. 
The third form, by prescription (usiis), con- 
sisted simply in the parties having lived 
together for a year without being separated 
for three days at any time. 

The marriage ceremony proper differed 
little in the various forms. The betrothal 
consisted of the exchange of the words 
spondesne (Do you promise?) and spondeo (I 
promise), followed by the gift of a ring 
from the gi'oom. On the wedding-morn- 
ing, the guests assembled at the house 

of the bride's father, where the auspices — which had been taken 
before sunrise by an augur or a haruspex — were declared, and the 
solemn marriage contract was spoken. The bride's attendant then 
laid her hands upon the shoulders of the newly married pair, and led 
them to the family altar, around which they walked hand in hand, 
while a cow, a pig, and a sheep were offered in sacrifice — the gall 
having been first extracted and thrown away, to signify the removal 
of all bitterness from the occasion. The guests having made their 
congratulations, the feast began. At nightfall the bride was torn 
with a show of force from her mother's arms (in memory of the seizure 
of the Sabine w^omen, p. 206) ; two boys, whose parents were both 
alive, supported her by the arms; torches were lighted, and a gay 
procession, as in Greece, accompanied the party to the house of the 
groom. Here the bride, having repeated to her spouse the formula, 
^^ Uhi tu Caius, ihl ego Caia" (Where thou art Caius, I am Caia), 
anointed the door-posts and wound them with wool, and was lifted 
over the threshold. She was then formally welcomed into the atrium 
by her husband with the ceremony of touching fire and water, in which 
both participated. The next day, at the second marriage feast, the wife 
brought her offerings to the gods of her husband's family, of which she 
was now a member, and a Roman matron. 
BO H— U 



p94 ROME. 

Burial.^ — When a Roman died it was the duty of his nearest rela- 
tive to receive his last breath with a kiss, and then to close his eyes 
and mouth (compare ^neid, iv. 684). His name was now called sev- 
eral times by all present, and, there being no response, the last fare- 
well {vaJc) was said. The necessary utensils and slaves having been 
hired at the temple where the death registry was kept, the body was 
"laid on the ground, washed in hot water, anointed with rich perfumes, 
clad in its best garments, placed on an ivory bedstead, and covered 
with blankets of purple, embroidered with gold. 2 The couch was deco- 
rated with flowers and foliage, but upon the body itself were placed 
only the crowns of honor fairly earned during its lifetime ; these 
accompanied it into the tomb. By the side of the funereal bed, which 
stood in the atrium facing the door, as in Greece, was placed a pan of 
incense. The body was thus exhibited for seven days, branches of 
cypress and fir fastened in front of the house announcing a moiu'ning 
household to all the passers-by. On the eighth morning, while the 
streets were alive Avith bustle, the funeral took place. Behind the 
hired female mourners, who sang wailing dirges, walked a band of 
actors, who recited scraps of tragedy applicable to the deceased, or 
acted comic scenes in which were sometimes mimicked his personal 
peculiarities. 3 In front of the bier marched those who personated the 
prominent ancestors of the dead person. They wore waxen masks 
(p. 303), in which and in their dress were reproduced the exact features 
and historic garb of these long-defunct personages. ^ The bier, car- 
ried by the nearest relatives, or by slaves freed by the will of the 
deceased, and surrounded by the family friends dressed in black (or, in 
imperial times, in white), was thus escorted to the Forum. Here the 
mask-wearers seated themselves about it, and one of the relatives 
mounted the rostrum to eulogize the deceased and his ancestors. 
After the eulogy, the procession re-formed, and the body was taken to 

1 The Romans, like the Greeks, attached great importance to the interment of 
their dead, as they believed that tlie spirit of an nnburied body was forced to wander 
for a hundred years. Hence it was deemed a religious duty to scatter earth over any 
corpse found uncovered by the wayside, a handful of dust being sufficient to appease 
the infernal gods. If the body of a friend could not be found, as in shipwreck, an 
empty tomb was erected, over wliich the usual rites were performed. 

2 We are supposing the case of a rich man. The body of a poor person was, after 
the usual ablutions, carried at night to the common burial-ground outside the Esqui- 
line gate, and interred without ceremony. 

3 At Vespasian's obsequies an actor ludicrously satirized his parsimony. "How 
much wiU tliis ceremony cost?" he asked in the assumed voice of the deceased 
emperor. A large sum having been named in reply, tlie actor extended his hand, and 
greedily cried out, " Give me the money and throw my body into the Tiber." 

•* Frequently the masks belonging to tlie collateral branches of the family were 
borrowed, that a brilliant show might be made. Parvenus, wlio belong to all time, 
were wont to parade images of fictitious ancestors. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 295 

tlie spot where it was to be buried or burned, both forms being used, 
as in Greece. If it were burned, tlie nearest relative, with averted 
face, lighted the pile. After the burning, the hot ashes were drenched 
with wine, and the friends collected the bones in the folds of their 
robes, amid acclamations to the manes of the departed. The remains, 
sprinkled with wine and milk, were then — with sometimes a small 
glass vial filled with tears — placed in the funeral urn ; a last farewell 
was spoken, the lustrations were performed, and the mourners sep- 
arated. When the body was not burned, it was buried with all its 
ornaments in a coffin, usually of stone, i The friends, on returning 
home from the funeral, were sprinkled with water, and then they 
stepped over fire, as a purification. The house also was ceremoniously 
purified. An offering and banquet took place on the ninth day after 
burial, in accordance with Greek custom. 

Dress. — The toga, worn by a Roman gentleman, was a piece of 
white woolen cloth about five yards long and three and a half wide, 
folded lengthways, so that one edge fell below the other. It was thrown 
over the left shoulder, brought around the back and under the right 
arm, then, leaving a loose fold in front, thrown again over the left 
shoulder, lea\ing the end to fall behind. Much pains was taken to 
drape it gi-acefully, according to the exact style required by fashion. 
A tunic, with or without sleeves, and in cold weather a vest, or one 
or more extra tunics, were worn under the toga. Boys under seventeen 
years of age wore a toga with a purple hem ; the toga of a senator had 
a broad purple stripe, and that of a knight had two narrow stripes. 
The use of the toga was forbidden to slaves, strangers, and, in im- 
perial times, to banished Eomans. 

The 2)wnula, a hesbvy, sleeveless cloak, with sometimes a hood 
attached, and the laccrna, a thinner, bright-colored one arranged in 
folds, were worn out of doors over the toga. The paludamentnm, a 
rich, red cloak draped in picturesque folds, was permitted only to the 
military general-in- chief, who, in imperial times, was the emperor 
himself. The sagum was a short military cloak. The sjpithcsis, a gay- 
colored easy robe, was worn over the tunic at banquets, and by the 
nobility during the Saturnalia. Poor people had only the timic, and 
in cold weather a tight-fitting wool or leather cloak. When not on a 
journey, the Roman, like the Greek, left his head uncovered, or pro- 
tected it with his toga. Rank decided the style of shoe ; a consul used 
a red one, a senator a black one mth a silver crescent, ordinary folk 
a plain black, slaves and poorest people wooden clogs. In the house, 
sandals only were worn, and at dinner even these were laid aside. 

1 Tliatfrom Assos in Lycia was said to consume tlie entire body, except the teetli, 
in forty days: hence it was called sarcophagus (flesh-eating), a name which came to 
stand for any coffin. 



296 ROME. 

A Roman matron dressed in a linen under-tunic, a vest, and the 
stola, a long, short-sleeved garment, girdled at the waist and flounced 
or hemmed at the bottom. Over this, when she went out, she threw 
a palla, cut and draped like her husband's toga or like the Greek 
himation. Girls and foreign women, who were not permitted the stola, 
wore over the tunic a palla, arranged like the Doric chiton (p. 193). 
Women — who, like the men, went hatless — protected their heads with 
the palla, and wore veils, nets, and various light head-coverings. 
This led to elaborate fashions in hair-dressing. A caustic soap im- 
ported from Gaul was used for hair-dyeing, and wigs were not uncom- 
mon. Bright colors, such as blue, scarlet, violet, and especially 
yellow, — the favorite tint for bridal veils, — enlivened the feminine 
wardrobe. Finger-rings were worn in profusion by both sexes, and 
a Roman lady of fashion luxuriated in bracelets, necklaces, and various 
ornaments set with diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and other jewels, 
whose purchase frequently cost her husband his fortune. 

SCENES IN REAL LIFE. 

Scene I. — A Day in Rome. — Let us imagine ourselves on some 
bright, clear morning, about eighteen hundred years ago, looking down 
from the summit of the Capitoline Hill upon the ''Mistress of the 
World." As we face the rising sun, we see clustered about us a group 
of hills crowned with a vast assemblage of temples, colonnades, 
palaces, and sacred groves. Densely packed in the valleys between 
are towering tenements,! shops with extending booths, and here and 
there a templed forum, amphitheater, or circus. In the valley at our 
feet, between the Via Sacra and the Via Nova, — the only paved roads 
in the whole city fit for the transit of heavy carriages, — is the Forum 
Romanum, so near us that we can watch the storks that stalk along 
the roof of the Temple of Concord. 2 This Forum is the gi^eat civil and 
legislative heart of the city. Here are the Regia or palace of the chief 
pontiff, with its two adjoining basilicas ; the Temple of Vesta, on 
whose altar burns the sacred flame ; the Senate House, fronted by the 
Rostra, from which Roman orators address assembled multitudes ; 
various temples, including the famous one of Castor and Pollux ; and 



1 Ancient antliors freqnentlynaentiou the extreme height of Roman houses, which 
Augustus finally limitea to seventy feet. Cicero says of Rome that " it is suspended 
in the air ; " and Aristides, comparing the successive stories to the strata of the 
earth's crust, aflftrms that if they were laid out on one level they " would cover Italy 
from sea to sea." To economize lateral space, the exterior walls were forbidden to 
exceed a foot and a half in thickness. 

2 Storks were eucouraged to build in the roof of this temple, as peculiar social 
instincts were attributed to them (see Steele's Popular Zoology, p. 146). 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 297 




-^ - kk. 



many beautiful marble arches, col- 
umns, and statues. At our right is 
the crowded district of the Vela- 
brum, and beyond it, between the 
Palatine and Aventine Hills, is the 
Circus Maximus, from which the 
Appian Way sweeps to the south- 
east, through the Porta Capena and 
under the great Aqua Crabra, a sol- 
idly paved street, many days' jom'- 
ney in extent, and lined for miles 
l)eyond the city walls with mag- 
nificent marble tombs shaded by 
cypress trees. Among the temples on 
the Palatine stands the illustrious 
one sacred to Apollo, along whose 
\ porticoes hang the trophies of all na- 

tions, and to which is at- 
^\^\\ tached a famous library 




ROME IN THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS C^BAK. 



298 ROME. 

of Greek and Roman honks; iioav if is llio Qnadrata, a square mass 
of masonry, believed to be mysteriously connected with the for- 
tunes of the city, and beneath which certain precious amulets are 
deposited. Interspersed among these public buildings on the Pala- 
tine are many isolated mansions surrounded by beautiful gardens 
fragrant with the odors of roses and violets, in which the Romans 
especially delight. There is no arrangement of streets upon the hills ; 
that is a system confined to the crowded Suburra, which adjoins the 
Roman Forum at our front, and lies at the foot of the Quirinal, Viminal, 
and Esquiline Hills. This district, which was once a swampy jungle 
and afterward a fashionable place for residences (Julius Ctesar was 
born in the Suburra), is now the crowded abode of artificers of all 
kinds, and is the most profligate as well as most densely populated 
part of Rome. 

Turning about and facing the west, we see, toward the north, the 
Campus Martins, devoted from the earliest period to military exercises 
and the sports of running, leaping, and bathing. On this side of the 
open meadows stand some of the principal temples, the great Flaminian 
Circus, and the theaters of Pompeius and Marcellus, with their groves, 
porticoes, and halls. Precisely in the center of the plain rises the 
Pantheon of Agrippa, and further on we see the Amphitheater of 
Taurus,! and the Mausoleum of Augustus. At our front, beyond the 
curving, southward-flowing Tiber, is a succession of terraces, upon 
whose heights are many handsome residences. This quarter, the 
Janiculum, is noted for its salubrity, and here are the Gardens of 
Caesar, and the Naumachia (a basin for exhibiting naval engagements) 
of Augustus, fed by a special aqueduct, and surrounded by walks and 
groves. Glancing down the river, we see the great wharf called the 
Emporium, with its immense store-houses, in which grain, spices, 
candles, paper, and other commodities are stored ; and just beyond it, 
the Marmorata, a special dock for landing building-stone and foreign 
marbles. It is yet early morning, and the streets of Rome are mainly 
filled with clients and their slaves hurrying to the atria (p. 303) of their 
wealthy patrons to receive the customary morning dole.^ Here and 

1 The whole of this northern district comi)rehencls the cliief part of modern 
Rome, and is now thronged with houses. 

2 In early times the clients were invited to feast with their patron in the atrium 
of his mansion, but in later days it became customary, instead, for stewards to dis' 
tribute small sums of money or an allowance of food, which the slaves of the clients 
carried away in baskets or in small portable ovens, to keep the cooked meats hot. 

•' Wedged in thick ranks before tlie donor's gates, 
A phalanx firm of chairs and litters waits. 
Once, plain and open was the feast, 
And every client was a bidden guest ; 
If^ow, at the gate a paltry largess lies, 
And eager hands and tongues dispute the prize."— JuV£M2. 



Circ u3 of Ntff) — ^ 
rant . ^ ' — -=s 




PLAN OF ANCIENT ROME, 

SHOWING THE DIVISION INTO 
TUB 2S:i^V I^EGIOlsrS OF >VXJC3-XTSTTJS 



I. POUTA CAPENA. 

1. Porta Capena. 

2. Valley of Egpria. 

3. Tomb of Scipio. 
II. CiTiLIMONTIUM. 

4. Temple of Diviia Claudius 

5. Arch of Constantiue. 
III. ISIS ET SERAPIS. 

6. Colosseum. 

7. Baths of Titus. 

8. Baths of Trajan. 
IV. VIA SACRA. 

9. Forum of Vespasian. 

10. Basilica of Constantine. 
V. ESQUILINA CUM VlMI- 

NALI. 

11. Temple of Juno. 
VI. Al.TA SKMITA. 

12. P.atlis of Diocletian. 

13. T-'iiijilr of Flora. 

14. Ti'inph' ofC^uirinus. 

15. Baths of Constuutiiie. 
VII. VIA LATA. 

16. Arch of AureliuB. 

17. Arch of Claudius. 



AND THE POSITION OF THE PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS. 

40. Temple of Bellona. 

41. Septa Julia. 

42. Diribitorium. 



18. Amphitheater of Taurus. 

19. Column of Antoninus. 

20. Camp of Agrippa. 

21. Temple of^ Isis and Se- 

rapis. 
VIII. FORUM EOMANUM. 

22. Capitoline Hill. 

23. Temple of JupiterTonans 

24. Arx. 

25. Golden Milestone. 

26. Komnn Forum. 

27. Temph^ of Vesta. 

28. Via Sacra. 

29. Lupercal. 

30. Tarpeian Rock. 

31. Arch of Severus. 

32. Curia (Senate House). 

33. Forum of Augustus. 

34. BasiUca Ulpia. 

35. Temple of Janus. 

IX. CIRCUS FUAMINIUS. 

36. Theater of Marcellus. 

37. Port, of Octavius and 

Philippa. 

38. Circus Flauiinius. 

39. Temple of Apollo. 



43. Baths of Agrippa. 

44. Port, of Pouipey. 
4.5. Theater of Pompcy. 

46. Pantheon. 

47. Baths of Nero. 

48. K ace-course. 

49. Mausoleum of Augustus. 

X. Palatum 

50. Palace of Nero. 

51. Palace of Augustus. 
XI. CIRCUS MaXIMUS. 

52. Velabrum. 

53. Forum Olitorium. 
.54. Forum Boarium. 
55. Circus Maximus. 

XII. PlsriNA PUIiLICA. 
50. Baths of Antoniuua. 

XIII. AVEXTINUS. 

57. Balnea Sune. 

58. Emporium. 

XIV. Trans Tiherim. 

59. Temple of Jisculapius 



300 ROME. 

there a teacher hastens to his school, and in the Suburra the workers 
in metal and in leather, the clothiers and perfume sellers, the book- 
dealers, the general retailers, and the jobbers of all sorts, are already 
beginning their daily routine. We miss the carts laden with mer- 
chandise which so obstruct om* modern city streets ; they are forbidden 
by law to appear within the walls during ten hours between sunrise 
and sunset. But, as the city wakes to life, long trains of builders' 
wagons, weighted with huge blocks of stone or logs of timber, bar 
the road, and mules, with country produce piled in baskets suspended 
on either side, urge their way along the constantly increasing crowd. 
Here is a mule with a dead boar thrown across its back, the proud hun- 
ter stalking in front, with a strong force of retainers to carry his spears 
and nets. There comes a load drawn by oxen, upon whose horns a 
wisp of hay is tied ; it is a sign that they are vicious, and passers-by 
must be on guard. Now a passage is cleared for some dignified patri- 
cian, who, wrapped in his toga, reclining in his luxurious litter, and 
borne on the broad shoulders of six stalwart slaves, makes his way to 
the Forum attended by a train of clients and retainers. In his rear, 
stepping from stone to stone l across the slippery street wet by the 
recent rains, we spy some popular personage on foot, whose advance 
is constantly retarded by his demonstrative acquaintances, who throng 
about him, seize his hand, and cover his lips with kisses.'^ 

The open cook-shops swarm with slaves who hover over steaming 
kettles, preparing breakfast for their wonted customers ; and the tables 
of the vintners, reaching far out upon the wayside, are covered with 
bottles, protected from passing pilferers by chains. The restaurants 
are hung Avith festoons of greens and flowers ; the image of a goat, 3 
carved on a wooden tablet, betokens a milk depot ; five hams, ranged 

1 In Pompeii, the sidewalks are elevated a foot or more above the street level, 
and protected by curb-stones. Remains of the stucco or the coarse brick-work mosaic 
which covered them are still seen. In many places tlie streets are so narrow that 
they may be crossed at one stride ; Avhere they are wider, a raised stepping-stone, 
and sometimes two or three, have been placed in the center of the crossing. Though 
these stones were in the middle of tlie carriage-way, the wheels of the Mga, or two- 
horsed chariot, could roll in the spaces between, while the loosely harnessed horses 
might step over them or pass by the side. Among the suggestive objects in tlie 
exliumed city are the hollows worn in these stepping-stones by feet which were for- 
ever stilled more than eighteen hundred years ago. 

2 " At every meeting in the street a person was exposed to a number of kisses, 
not only from near acquaintance, but from every one who desired to show his attach- 
ment, among whom there were often mouths not so clean as they might be. Tiberius, 
who wished himself not to be humbled by this custom, issued an edict against it, 
but it does not appear to have done mucli good. In winter only it was considered 
improper to annoy another with one's cold lips."— ^ecfcer's Oallus. 

3 A goat driven about from door to door, to be milked for customers, is a common 
sight in Rome to-day, where children come out with gill or half-pint cups to get their 
morning ration. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 301 

in a row, proclaim a iirovision store ; and a mill, driven by a mule, 
advertises a miller's and baker's shop, both in one. About the street 
corners are groups of loungers collected for their morning gossip, 
while gymnasts and gladiators, clowns, conjurers, snake-charmers, and 
a crowd of strolling swine, — who roam at will about the imperial city, — 
help to obstruct the narrow, tortuous highways. The professional 
street-beggars are out in force ; squatting upon little squares of mat- 
ting, they piteously implore a dole, or, feigning epilepsy, fall at the 
feet of some rich passer-by. Strangers, too, are here ; men of foreign 
costume and bearing come from afar to see the wonders of the world- 
conquering city, and, as they gaze distractedly about, dazed by the din 
of rumbling wagons, shouting drivers, shrill-voiced hucksters, braying 
asses, and surging multitudes, suddenly there comes a lull. The 
slaves, whose task it is to watch the sun-dials and report the expiration 
of each horn*, have announced that the sun has passed the mid-day line 
upon the pavement. Soon all tumult ceases, and for one hour the city 
is vn-apped in silence. 

The luxurious siesta over, Rome awakes to new enjo}-ment. Now 
come the pleasures and excitement of the circus and the theater, or 
the sports upon the Campus Martins, whither the young fashionables 
repair in crowds, to swim, run, ride, or throw the javelin, watched 
by an admiring assembly of seniors and women, who, clustered in 
porticoes, are sheltered from the burning sun. Then follows the luxury 
of the warm and vapor baths, with perfuming and anointing, and every 
refinement of physical refreshment as a preparation for the coming 
ccena or dinner (p. 306). But wherever one may seek enjoyment for 
the early evening, it is well to be housed before night comes on, for 
the streets of Rome swarm with nocturnal highwajTuen, marauders, 
and high-blooded rowdies, who set the police at open defiance, and 
keep whole districts in terror. There are other dangers, too, for night 
is the time chosen by the careful housewife to dump the slops and 
debris from her upper windows into the open drain of the street below. 
Fires, also, are frequent, and, though the night-watch is i^rovided with 
hatchets and buckets to resist its progress, a conflagration, once started 
in the crowded Suburra or Yelabrum, spreads with fearful rapidity, 
and vdll soon render hundreds of families homeless, i Meanwhile 
the carts, shut out by law during the daytime, crowd and jostle one 
another in the eagerness of their noisy di-ivers to finish their duties 

1 The tenements of the lower classes in Rome were so crowded that often wliole 
families were huddled togetlier in one small room. The different stories were reached 
by stairways placed on tlie outside of the buildings.— Tliore were no fire-insurance 
companies, but the sufferers were muniticently recompensed by generous citizens, 
their loss being not only made good in m<moy, but followed bj' presents of books, 
pictures, statues, and choice mosaics, fnmi their zealous friends. Martial insinuates 
tliat on tliis account parties were sometimes tempted to fire their own premises. 



302 ROME. 

and be at liberty for the night, while here and there groups of smok- 
ing flambeaux mark the well-armed trains of the patricians on their 
retm-n from evening banquets. As the night advances, the sights and 
sounds gradually fade and die away, till in the first hours of the new 
day the glimmering lantern of the last wandering pedestrian has dis- 
appeared, and the great city lies under the stars asleep. 

Scene II. — A Roman HoincA — We will not visit one of the tall 
lodging-houses which crowd the Suburra, though in passing we may 
glance at the plain, bare outside wall, with its few small windows 2 
placed in the upper stories and graced with pots of flowers ; and at 
the outside stairs by which the inmates mount to those dizzy heights, 
and under which the midnight robber and assassin often lurk. Some- 
times we see a gabled front or end with a sloping roof, or feel the shade 
of projecting balconies which stretch far over the narrow street. 
On many a flat roof, paved with stucco, stone, or metal, and covered 
with earth, grow fragrant shrubs and flowers. Coming into more aristo- 
cratic neighborhoods, we yet see little domestic architecture to attract 
us. It is only when a spacious vestibule, adorned 
with statues and mosaic pillars, lies open to the 
street, that we have any intimation of the luxury 
within a Roman dwelling. K, entering such a 
vestibule, we rap with the bronze knocker, the 
unfastened folding-doors are pushed aside by 
the waiting janitor (who first peeps at us through 
the large open spaces in the door-posts), 3 and we 
find ourselves in the little ostium or entrance 
hall leading to the atrium. Here we are greeted, 
not only by the "salve" (welcome) on the mosaic 
A ROMAN LAMP. pavcmont, but by the same cheerful word chat- 

tered by a trained parrot hanging above the 
door. We linger to notice the curiously carved door-posts, inlaid with 
tortoise-shell, and the door itself, which, instead of hinges, is provided 

1 No traces of ancient private dwellings exist in Borne, except in the ruins of the 
Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine, where the so-called " House of Livia" (wife of 
Augustus), remains tolerably perfect. It is similar in dimensions and arrangement to 
the hest Pompeian dwellings, though far superior in paintings and decorations. The 
" House of Pansa " in Pompeii, the plan of which is described in the text, is consid- 
ered a good representative example of a wealthy Roman's home. 

2 Panes of glass have been found in Pompeii, though it was more usual to close 
the window-holes with movable wooden shutters, clay tablets, talc, or nets. 

3 In ancient times the janitor, accompanied by a dog, was confined to his proper 
station by a chain. As it was not customary to keep the door locked, such a protec- 
tion was necessary. In the " House of the Tragic Poet," exhumed at Pompeii, a 
fierce black and white dog is depicted in the mosaic pavement, and underneath it iS 
the inscription, " Cave Canem " (Beware of the Dog). 




THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 303 

with wedge-shaped pins, fitting into sockets or rings, and then we pass 
into the atrium, the room about which cluster the most sacred memo- 
ries of Roman domestic life. Here in ancient times all the simple 
meals were taken beside the hearth on which they were prepared, and 
by which the sacrifices were daily offered up to the beloved Lares and 
Penates. 1 Here was welcomed the master's chosen bride, and here, a 
happy matron, 2 she afterward sat enthroned in the midst of her in- 
dustrious maids, spinning and weaving the household garments. From 
their niches upon these walls, by the side of glistening weapons captured 
in many a bloody contest, the waxen masks of honored ancestors have 
looked down for generations, watching the bodies of the family de- 
scendants, as one by one they have lain in state upon the funeral bier. 
— But increase of luxury has banished the stewing-pans, the busy 
looms, and the hospitable table to other apartments in the growing 
house. The Lares and Penates have left their primitive little closets by 
the atrium cooking-hearth for a larger and separate sacrarium, and 
spacious kitchens now send forth savory odors from turbot, pheasant, 
wild boar, and sausages, to be served up in summer or winter triclin- 
iums by a host of well-trained slaves. 3 The household dead are still 
laid here, but the waxen masks of olden times are gradually giving 
place to brazen shield-shaped plates on which are dimly imaged 

1 At every meal the first act was to cast a portion of each article of food into the 
fire that huroed upon the hearth, in honor of the household gods. 

2 The Roman matron, unlike the Greek, enjoyed great freedom of action, both 
within and without her house, and was always treated with attention and respect. 

3 The Romans were fond of amazing their guests with costly dainties, such as 
nightingales, peacocks, and the tongues and brains of flamingoes. Caligula dissolved 
pearls in powerful acids, in imitation of Cleopatra, aud spent $400,000 on a siugle 
repast. A dramatic friend of Cicero paid over $4,000 for a dish of singing birds ; and 
one famous epicure, after having exhausted the sum of four million dollars in his 
good living, poisoned himself because he had not quite half a million left ! Fish was 
a favorite food, and tlie mansions of the rich were fitted up with fish-ponds (piscince) 
for the culture of rare varieties, which were sometimes caught and cooked on silver 
gridirons before invited guests, who enjoyed the changing colors of the slowly dying 
fish, and the tempting odor of the coming treat. Turbots, mackerels, eels, and oys- 
ters were popular delicacies, and a fine mullet brought sometimes as much as $240. 
In game the fatted hare and the wild boar, served whole, were ranked first. Pork, as 
in Greece, was the favorite meat, beef and mutton being regarded with little favor. 
Great display was made in serving, aud Juvenal ridicules the airs of the professional 
carver of his time, who, he says,— 

" Skips like a liarlequin from place to place, 
And waves his knito with pantomimic grace— 
For different gestures by our curious men 
Are used for different dishes, hare and hen." 
In vegetables the Romans had lettuce, cabbage, turnips, and asparagus. Mush- 
rooms were highly prized. The poorer classes lived on cheap fish, boiled chick-peas, 
beans, lentils, barley bread, and puis or grueL 



304 



ROME. 



features, or to bronze and marble busts. ^ The little aperture in the 
center of the ceiling, which served the double purpose of escape for 
smoke and the admission of sunlight, has been enlarged, and is sup- 
ported by costly marble pillars, alternating with statues ; directly un- 
derneath it, the open cistern reflects each passing cloud, and mirrors 
the now-unused altar, which, for tradition's sake, is still left standing 
by its side. When the rain, wind, or heat becomes severe, a tapestry 
curtain, hung horizontally, is drawn over the aperture, and sometimes 
a pretty fountain, surrounded by flowering plants, embellishes the 
pool of water. Tapestries, sliding by rings on bars, conceal or open 
to view the apartments which adjoin the atrium. As we stand at the 
9ntrance-door of this spacious room, 2 with the curtains all drawn aside. 




THE HOUSE OF PANSA (VIEW FROM THE ENTRANCE-DOOU OF THE ATRIUM). 

we look down a long and beautiful vista ; past the central fountain 
and altar ; through the open tablinum, paved with marbles and devoted 
to the master's use; into the peristyle, a handsome open court sur- 
rounded by pillared arcades, paved with mosaics, and beautified, like 
the atrium, with central fountain and flowers ; and still on, through 
the large banqueting hall, or family state-room (cecus), beyond the 
transverse corridor, and into the garden which stretches across the 
rear of the mansion. If we stop to glance into the library which ad- 
joins the tablinum, we shall find its walls lined with cupboards stored 



1 Pliny speaka of the craviug for portrait statues, which induced obscure persons, 
suddenly grown rich, to buy a fictitious ancestry, there being ready antiqtiarians 
then, as now, who made it a business to furnish satisfactory pedigrees. 

2 The atrium in the House of Tansa was nearly fifty feet long, and over thirty 
wide. As this was only a moderate-sized liouse in a provincial town, it is reasonable 
to suppose tliat the city houses of the rich were much more spacious. 



THE MANNERS ANT) (iTSTOMS. 305 

with parc'lnnoiil rolls ;uh1 iidoniod willi luisis and pidin'cs of illustrious 
men, crowned by the presiding stjitiu'S ol" Minerva and the Muses. 
In general furniture, we notice l)eautiful tripod-stands hohling grace- 
ful vases, chairs after Greek patterns, and lecii i on which to recline 
when reading or writing. Occasionally there is a small wall-mirror, 
made of polished metal, and the walls themselves are brilliantly 
painted in panels, bearing graceful floating ligures and scenes of 
mythological design. The floors are paved with bricks, marbles, or 
mosaics, and the rooms are warmed or cooled by pipes through which 
flows hot or cold water. In extreme weather there are portable 
stoves. There is a profusion of quaintly shaped bronze and even 
golden lamps, whose simple oil-fed wicks give forth at night a 
feeble glimmer,'-^ As we pass through the fauces into the peristyle, 
a serpent slowly uncoils itself from its nest in one of the alae, which 
has been made the household sanctuary, 3 and glides toward the 
triclinium in search of a crumb from the mid-day meal. 

The large triclinium at the right of the peristyle is furnished with 
elegantly inlaid sofas, which form three sides of a square about 
a costly cedar or citrus-wood table. 4^ At banquets the sofas are 

1 A leetus was ueitlier bed nor sofa, but a simple frame with a low ledge at one 
end, and strung with girth on wliich a mattress and coverings were laid. Lecti were 
made of brass, or of cedar inlaid with ivory, tortoise-sliell, and precious metals, and 
were provided with ivory, gold, or silver feet. Writing-desks with stools were un- 
known ; the Roman reclined on the leetus when he wrote, resting his tablet upon 
his knee. 

2 The Romans were in the habit of making New-Year's gifts, such as dried figs, 
dates, and hone3"Comb, as emblems of sweetness, or a little piece of money as a hope 
for good luck. But the favorite gift was a lamp, and great genius was displayed in 
tlie variety of elegant designs whicli were invented in search of the novel and unique. 

3 Serpents were tlie emblems of the Lares, and were not only figured upon the 
altars, but, to insure family prosperity, a certain kind was kept as pets in the 
houses, where tliey nestled about the altars and came out like dogs or cats to be 
noticed by visitors, and to beg for sometliing to eat. These sacred reptiles, which 
were of considerable size, but liarmless except to rats and mice, bore such a charmed 
life that their numbers became an intolerable nuisance. Pliny intimates that many 
of the tires in Rome were kindled purposely to destroy their eggs. 

4 The citrus-wood tables, so prized among the Romans, cost from $40,000 to 
$50,000 apiece. Seneca is said to have owned five liundred citrus-wood tables. 
Vases of murrha— a substance identified by modein scientists with glass, Chinese 
porcelain, agate, and fluor-spar— were fashionable, and fabulous sums were paid 
for them. An ex-consul under Nero had a mnrrlia wine-ladle which cost him 
$■300,000, and wliicli on his deatli-bed lie deliberately da.slied to pieces, to prevent 
its falhng into the hands of the grasping t3'rant. Bronze and marble statues were 
abundant in the houses and gardens of the rich, and cost from $1.50 for the woik 
of an ordinary sculptor, to $80,000 for a genuine Phidias, Scopas, or Praxiteles. To 
gratify such expensive tastes, large fortunes were necessarj', aiul tlie Romans— in 
earlj' times averse to anj'thing but arms and agriculture— develoi)ed shrewd, sharp 
business qualities. They roamed over foreign countries in search of speculations, 
and turned out swarms of bankers and merchants, who amassed enormous sums to 



306 



ROME. 



decked with white hangings embroidered with gold, and the soft wool- 
stuffed pillows upon which the guests recline are covered with gor- 
geous purple. Here, after his daily warm and vapor bath, the per- 
fumed and enervated Roman gathers a few friends — in number not 
more than the Muses nor less than the Graces — for the evening supper 
(ccena). The courses follow one another as at a Grecian banquet. 
Slaves! relieve the master and his guests from the most trifling effort, 




i-LAN OF THE HOUSE OF PANSA. 

(V) The Vestibulum, or hall; (1) The Ostium; (2) The Atrium, off which are six 
cuhicula or sleeping-rooms; (3) The Im,pluvium, before which stands the 
pedestal or altar of the liousehold gods; (4) The Tablinum, or chief room; 
(5) The Pinacotlieca, or library and picture gallery; (6) The Fauces, or corri- 
dor; (7) The J'eristylium, or court, with (8) its central fountain; (9) Tlie ^cus, 
or state-room; (10) The Triclinium,- (11) The kitchen; (r2) The transverse 
corridor, witli garden beyond; and (13) The Zararium, a receptacle for the 
more favorite gods, and lor statues of illustiious peisonages. 

carving each person's food or breaking it into fragments which he 
can raise to his mouth with his fingers, — forks being unknown, — and 
pouring water on his hands at every remove. The strictest etiquette 
prevails ; long-time usages and traditions are followed ; libations are 
offered to the protecting gods ; spirited conversation, which is un- 
dignified and Greekish, is banished; and only solemn or caustic 
aphorisms on life and manners are heard. '^ People at supper," 
says Varro, ^^ should be neither mute nor loquacious: eloquence is 
for the forum; silence for the bed-chamber." On high days, rules 
are banished ; the host becomes the '^ Father of the supper," convivial 
excesses grow coarse and absurd, and all the follies and vices of the 
Greek symposium are exaggerated. 

be spent on fashionable whims (see "Business Life in Ancient Rome," Harper's 
Half-hour Series). 

1 There were slaves for every species of service in a Roman household, and their 
number and versatility of handicraft remind one of the retinue of an Egyptian lord. 
Even the defective memory or limited talent of an indolent or over-taxed Roman 
was supplemented by a slave at his side, whose business it was to recall forgotten 
incidents and duties, to tell him the names of the persona he met, or to suggest ap- 
propriate literary allusions in his conversation. 



THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 307 

Scene III. — A Triumphal Procession. — Rome is in her holiday- 
attire. Streets and squares are festively adorned, and incense bums 
on the altars of the open temples. From steps and stands, improvised 
along the streets for the eager crowd, grow loud and louder sliouts of 
" lo triumphe ! " for the procession has started from the triumplial gate 
on its way through the city up to the Capitol. First come the lictors, 
opening a passage for the senate, the city magistrates, and important 
citizens. Pipers and flute-players follow. Then appear tlie spoils and 
booty ; art-treasures, gold and silver coins, valuable plate, products of 
tlie conquered soil, armor, standards, models of captured cities and 
ships, pictures of battles, tablets inscribed with the victor's deeds, and 
statues personifying the to^vns and rivers of the newly subjected 
land, — all carried by crowned soldiers on the points of long lances 
or on portable stands. Chained kings, princes, and nobles, doomed to 
the Mamertine Prison, walk sullenly behind their lost treasures. In 
their Avake are the sacrificial oxen with gilt horns, accompanied by 
priests ; and then — preceded by singers, musicians, and jesters, the cen- 
tral object of all this gi-and parade — the victorious general. 1 Clad 
in a tunic borrowed from the statue of the Capitoline Jupiter, with the 
eagle-topped ivory scepter in his hand and the triumphal crown held 
above his head, the conqueror proudly stands in his four-horse chariot, 
followed by his equally proud, ^detorious army. Through the Flamin- 
ian Circus, along the crowded Velabrum and the Circus Maximus, 
by the Via Sacra and the Forum, surges the vast procession up to the 
majestic Capitol. Here the triumphator lays his golden crown in the 
lap of Jupiter, and makes the imposing sacrifice. A feast of unusual 
sumptuousness ends the eventful day. 

Scene IV. — The Last of a Eoinan Emperor. — "It is the Roman 
habit to consecrate the emperors who leave heirs. The mortal re- 
mains are bm-ied, according to custom, in a splendid manner ; but the 
wax image of the emperor is placed on an ivory bed, covered Avitli gold- 
embroidered carpets, in front of the palace. The expression of the 
face is that of one dangerously ill. To the left side of the bed stand, 
during a greater part of the day, the members of the senate ; to the 
right, the ladies entitled by birth or marriage to appear at com-t, in the 
usual simple white mourning-dresses without gold ornaments or neck- 
laces. This ceremony lasts seven days, during which time the imperial 
physicians daily approach the bed as if to examine the patient, who, 
of course, is declining rapidly. At last they declare the emperor dead. 
The bier is now transported by the highest born knights and the 

1 Only dictators, consuls, praetors, and occasionally legates, were permitted the 
triumphal entrance. Sometimes the train of spoils and captives was so great that 
two, three, and even four days were required for tlio parade. In later times the 
triumphal procession was exclusively resoived for tlie emperor. 



308 ROME. 

younger senators through the Via Sacra to the old Forum, and there 
deposited on a scaffolding built in the manner of a terrace. On one 
side stand young patricians, on the other noble ladies, intoning hymns 
and pasans in honor of the deceased to a solemn, sad tune ; after which 
the bier is taken up again, and carried to the Campus Martins. A 
wooden structure in the form of a house has been erected on large 
blocks of wood on a square base ; the inside has been filled with dry 
sticks; the outside is adorned with gold-embroidered carpets, ivory 
statues, and various sculptures. The bottom story, a little lower than 
the second, shows the same form and ornamentation as this ; it has 
open doors and windows ; above these two stories rise others, growing 
narrow toward the top, like a pyramid. The whole structure might be 
compared to the lighthouses erected in harbors. The bier is placed 
in the second story ; spices, incense, odoriferous fruits and herbs being 
heaped round it. After the whole room has been filled with incense, 
the knights move in procession round the entire structure, and per- 
form some military evolutions ; they are followed by chariots filled 
with persons wearing masks and clad in purple robes, who represent 
historic characters, such as celebrated generals and kings. After these 
ceremonies are over, the heir to the throne throws a torch into the 
house, into which, at the same time, flames are dashed from all sides, 
which, fed by the combustible materials and the incense, soon begin 
to devour the building. At this juncture an eagle rises into the air 
from the highest story as from a lofty battlement, and carries, accord- 
ing to the idea of the Romans, the soul of the dead emperor to heaven ; 
from that moment he partakes of the honors of the gods." — Herodian. 



4. SUMMARY. 

1. Political History. — Rome began as a single city. The growth 
of her power was slow but steady. She became head, first, of 
the neighboring settlements ; second, of Latium ; third, of Italy ; and, 
fourth, of the lands around the Mediterranean. In her early history, 
there was a fabulous period during which she was ruled by kings. 
The last of the seven monarchs belonged to a foreign dynasty, and 
upon his expulsion a republic was established. Two centuries of con- 
flict ensued between the patricians and the plebs ; but the latter, going 
ofttimes to Mount Sacer, gained their end and established a democracy. 

Meanwliile, wars with powerful neighbors and with the awe-in- 
spiring Gauls had developed the Roman character in all its sternness, 
integrity, and patriotism. Rome next came in contact with Pyrrhus, 
and learned how to fortify her military camps ; then with Carthage, 
and she found out the value of a navy. An apt pupil, she gained the 



SUMMARY. 309 

mastery of the sea, invaded Africa, and in the end razed Carthage to 
the ground. Turning to the west, she secured Spain — the silver- 
producing country of that age — and Gaul, whose fiery sons filled the 
depleted ranks of her legions. At the east she intrigued where she 
could, and fought where she must, and by disorganizing states made 
them first her dependencies, and then her provinces. Greece, Macedon, 
Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylon, were but stej)ping-stones in her 
progress until Parthia alone remained to bar her advance to the Indus 
and the ocean. 

But within her gates the struggle between the rich and the poor 
still went on. Crowds of slaves — captives of her many wars — 
thronged her streets, kept her shops, waited in her homes, tilled her 
land, and tended her flocks. The plebeians, shut out from honest 
toil, struggled for the patrician's dole. The civil wars of Sulla and 
Marius drenched her pavements with the blood of her citizens. The 
triumphs of Ceesar shed a gleam of glory over the fading republic, but 
the mis-aimed daggers of Brutus and Cassius that slew the dictator 
struck at the heart of liberty as well. 

Augustus brought in the empire and an era of peace. Now the 
army gained control of the state. Weak and wicked emperors, the 
luxury of wealth, the influx of oriental profligacy, the growth of 
atheism, and the greed of conquest, undermined the fabric of Roman 
greatness. The inhabitants of the provinces were made Romans, and, 
Rome itself being lost in the empire it had created, other cities became 
the seats of government. Amid the ruins of the decaying monarchy 
a new religion supplanted the old, and finally Teutonic hordes from 
the north overwhelmed the city that for centuries their own soldiers 
had alone upheld. 

2. Civilization. — As in Greece the four ancient Attic tribes were 
subdivided into phratries, gentes, and hearths, so in Rome the three 
original patrician tribes branched into curiae, gentes, and families, the 
paterfamilias owning all the property, and holding the life of his 
children at will. 

The civil magistrates comprised consuls, quaestors, sediles, and 
prsetors. 

The army was organized in legions, cohorts, companies, and cen- 
turies, with four classes of footrsoldiers, who fought with the pilum 
and the javelin, protected themselves with heavy breastplates, and 
carried on sieges by the aid of ballistas, battering-rams, catapults, and 
movable towers. In later times the ranks were filled by foreigners 
and mercenaries. 

Roman literature, child of the Grecian, is rich with memorable 
names. Ushered in by Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave, it grew with 
Nsevius, Ennius, Plautus, Terence, Cato, and Lucilius. The learned 



310 ROME. 

Varro, the florid Cicero, the graceful Virgil, the genial Horace, the 
eloquent Livy, and the polished Sallust, ennobled the last century be- 
fore Christ. The next hundred years produced the studious Pliny the 
Elder, the two inseparable friends Pliny the Younger and Tacitus, 
the sarcastic Juvenal, and the wise Seneca. 

The monuments of the Romans comprise splendid aqueducts, tri- 
umphal arches, military roads, bridges, harbors, and tombs. Their 
magnificent palaces and luxurious thermae were fitted up with reckless 
extravagance and dazzling display. All the spoils of conquered 
nations enriched their capital, and all the foreign arts and inventions 
were impressed into their service. 

The proud, dignified, ambitious Roman had no love or tenderness 
for aught but his national supremacy. Seldom indulging in sentiment 
toward family or kindred, he recognized no law of humanity toward 
his slaves. His religion was a commercial bargain with the gods, in 
which each was at liberty to outwit the other. His iDorsMp was mostly 
confined to the public ceremonies at the shrine of Vesta, and the con- 
stant household offerings to the Lares and Penates. His public games 
were a degraded imitation of the Grecian, and he took his chief de- 
light in bloody gladiatorial shows and wild-beast fights. 

A race of borrowers, the Romans assimilated into their nationality 
most of the excellences as well as many of the vices of other peoples, 
for centuries stamping the whole civilized world with their character, 
and dominating it by their successes. "As to Rome all ancient history 
converges, so from Rome all modern history begins." 

Finally, as a central point in the history of all time, in the midst of 
the brilliancy of the Augustan age, while Cicero, Sallust, Virgil, and 
Horace were fresh in the memory of their still living friends, with 
Seneca in his childhood and Livy in his prime, the empire at its best, 
and Rome radiant in its growing transformation from brick to marble 
under the guiding rule of the great Augustus Csesar, there was born 
in an obscure Roman province the humble Babe whose name far out- 
ranks all these, and from whose nativity are dated all the centuries 
which have succeeded. 



READING REFERENCES 

MerivaWs History of the Romans.— Ihne's History of Borne, and Early Rome.— 
History Primers ; Rome, and Roman A7itiquities, edited by Green.— Arnold's His- 
tory of Rome.—Niebuhr's History of Rome.— Smith's smaller History of Rome.— 
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.— Ouhl and Koner's Life of the 
Greeks and Romans.— KnighV s Social Life of the Romans.- Plutarch's Lives.— Mil- 
man's History of Christianity.— Wommsen's History of Rome.—Froude's Life of CcBsar. 
—Becker' 8 Oharicles, and Gallus.—Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome.—Shakapere's 



CHRONOLOGY. 



an 



Julius Ccesar, CoHolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra.— For syWs Life of Cicero.— 
Napoleon's (III.) Life of Ccesar.— Canina's Edifices of Ancient Jiome.—Fergusson's 
History of Architecture.— Buliver's Last Days of Pompeii, and liienzi the Last of 
the Tribimefs.—MicheleVs Roman Republic— Heeren's Historical Researches.— Putz' 8 
Hand-hook uf Ancient History.— Hare's Walks in Rome.—Kingsley's Hypatia.— Lord's 
Old Roman World.— Mann's Ancient and Mediceval Republics.— Lawrence's Primer 
of Roman Literature.— Collins' s Ancient Classics for English Readers (a series 
giving striking passages from the Greek and Roman classics, with excellent explana- 
tory notes, lives of the authors, etc.).— Dyer's Pompeii.— Herbermann's Business Life in 
Ancient Rome.— Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. 



CHRONOLOGY. 



B.C. 

Rome founded 753 

Republic established 509 

The Decemvirs 451 

Rome taken by Gauls 390 

First Samnite War 343-341 

Great Latin War 340-338 

Second Samnite War 326-304 

Third " " 298-290 

Wars with Pyrrhus 280-276 

First Punic War 264-241 

Second " " 218-201 

Battle of the Trebia 218 

" " Lake Trasimenus 217 

" " Cannae 216 

Siege of Capua 214-21] 

Battle of the Metaurus 207 

" " Zama 202 

Second Macedonian War 200-197 

Battle of Magnesia 190 

Death of Hannibal and Scipio Afri- 

canus 183 

Third Macedonian War 171-168 

Battle of Pydna 168 

Third Punic War 149-146 

Fall of Carthage and Corinth 146 

Death of Tiberius Gracchus 133 

Jugurtliine War 111-104 

Marius defeated Teutones at Aquae 

Sextite (Aix) 102 

Marius defeated Cimbri 101 

Social War 90-88 

First Mithridatic War 88-84 

Massacre by Marius 87 

Second Mithridatic War 83-81 

Sulla's Proscriptions 83 

Third Mithridatic War 74-63 

War of Spartacus 73-71 

Mediterranean Pirates ;.. 67 

Conspiracy of Catiline 63 

B G H— 19 



B. C. 

First Triumvirate 60 

Caesar in Gaul 58-49 

" invades Britain 55 

" crosses the Rubicon 49 

Battle of Pharsalia— death of Pom- 

pey 48 

Suicide of Cato 46 

Caesar assassinated 44 

Second Triumvirate, death of Cicero 43 
Battle of Philippi, suicide of Brutus 

and Cassius 42 

Battle of Ac tium 31 

Augustus 31 

A. D. 

Tiberius 14 

Caligula 37 

^ Claudius 41 

£ j Nero 54 

Galba 68 

Otho 69 

Vitellius 69 

Vespasian 69 

Titus 79 

Domitian 81 

Nerva 96 

Trajan 98 

Hadrian 117 

Antoninus Pius 138 

M. Aurelius Antoninus 161-180 

L. Verus 161-169 

Commodus 180 

Pertinax 193 

Didius Julianus 193 

Septimius Severus 193 

Caracallus 211-217 

Geta 211-212 

Macrinus 217 

Elagabalus (the sun-priest) 218 

Alexander Severus 222 



31^ 



ROME. 



Maximlnus 

Gordian I. ) 

Gordian II. i 

Pupienua Maximus ) 

Balbinus > 

Gordian III 

Philip the Arabian 

Decius 

Gallus 

^milian 

Valerian 

Gallienus 

Claudius II 

Aureliau 

Tacitus 

Florian 

Probus 

Carus 

Carinus and Nunierian 

Diocletian, with Maximian 

Constant! us, with Galerius 

Constantino I. (the Great), with Ga- 
lerius, Severus, and Maxentius 



L.D. 

235 

238 



244 

249 
251 
253 
253 
260 
268 
270 
275 
276 
276 
282 
283 
284 



A.D. 

Constantino, with LIcinius 307 

Constantino, with Maximinus 308 

Constantino, alone 323 

Constantino II., Constantius II., 

Constans 1 337 

Julian the Apostate 361 

Jovian 363 

Valentlnian 1 364 

Gratian and Valentinian II 375 

Valentinian II 383 

Theodosius (East and West) 392 

Honorius 395 

Theodosius II. (East and West) 423 

Valentinian III 425 

Petronius Maximus 455 

Avitus 455 

Majorian 457 

Libius Severns 461 

Anthemius 467 

Olybrius 472 

Glycerins 473 

Julius Nepos 474 

Romulus Augustulus 475-476 




TOMBS ALONG THE APPIAN WAY. 



MEDIEVAL xEOPLES. 



" We may gather out of History a policy no less wise than eternal, by the 
comparison of other men's miseries with our own like errors." 

Sir Walter Raleigh's History of tJie World. 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS 



f 1. Chief events of Middle Ages. Characteristics. 

1 2. GENERAL DIVISIONS. 

3. THE Teutonic settlements. 
1. Introduction. { ■*• the character of the teutonic Conquest. 
I 5. the Eastern Empire. 
I 6. The papacy. 
I 7. Early German Civilization. 



Rise of tlie 
Saracens. 



1. Mohammed. 

2. THE Caliphs. 

3. Saracens in Europe. Extent of Empire. 

4. Saracen Divisions. 

( 5. saracen civilization. 



« n. f XL f 1- CLOVIS and the FRANKS. MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY. 

6. Kise oT tne i o. pepin the short, carlovingian dynasty. 



Prankish 



Empire. 1 



3. Charlemagne. 



4. Riseof IVIod- 
ern Nations. 



1. England. 



1. His Conquests. 

2. Crowned Emperor. 

3. Government. 

4. Charlemagne and liis Court. 

( a. Roman. 



1. The Four Conquests 



2. Growth of Constitu 
tional Liberty. 



J b. Anglo-Saxon. 
\ c. Danish. 
[ d. Norman. 
f a. Bunnym^^de 

and Mttgna 
i Charta. 

I b. The House of 
[ Commons. 



2. France. 



Conquest of Ireland. 
Conquest of Wales. 
Conquest of Scotland. 
Wars of the Roses. 
Early English Civilization. 
RoUo and the Norsemen. 
Capet. The Capetian Dynasty. 
Weakness of the Monarchy. 

f a. Philip Augustus. 

I 6. Louis IX. 

c. Philip IV. 

d. Louis XI. 
—Triumph of Ab- 

[ solutism. 



Growth of the 
Monarchy under 



House of Valois. 

The Hundred-Years' War. 

The Kingdom of Burgundy. 

Consolidation of Fiench Monarchy. 

Early French Civilization. 



3. Germany. 



4. SWITZERLAND 



5. Italy in the Middle Ages. 



f 1. 



1. Comparison with France. 

2. The Saxon Dynasty. 

3. The Franconian Dynasty. 

4. The Hohenstaufen Line. 

5. Great Interregnum. 

6. The Hapsburgs. 

1. Origin. 

2. Three Great Battles. 

3. Growth of the Confederacy. 

PAPAL POWER. 

r 1. Venice. 
ITALIAN CITIES. \ |- Fk.rence. 
[ 4. Rome. 



The Crusades. 
The Moors in Spain. 



1-8. THE EIGHT CRUSADES. 

9. EFFECTS OF THE CUUSADKS. 



8. Asia in the Middle Ages. 



9. Medieval Civilization. 



1. the mongols. 

2. the turks. 

1. feudalism. 

2. The Castle. 

3. chivalry. 

4. The Knight. 

5. The tournament. 

6. Education and literature, 

7. Manners and Customs. 



[When writing upon the 
hlackboaid, the pupil can fill 
out the subdivisions from the 
headings of the paragraphs in 

the text.] 



f[EB\J£.VAL P^OPl^ 




IN SIGHT OK UOMK. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Middle Ages extend 
from the faU of Rome (476) 
to the capture of Constantino- 
ple (1453), — a httle less than 
1000 years. Then* principal 
events were the migrations of the northern barbarians 
(p. 266) ; the invasion of the Saracens ; the establishment 

Geographical Questions.— These queries are intended to test the pupil's knowl- 
edge, to make Lim familiar with the maps of the middle ages, and to prepare him 
to locate the history he is about to study. See list of maps, p. vi. Bound Syria, 
Arabia, Gaul, Britain, Spain, Norway, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, 



316 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

of the Frankish kingdom, including the empire of Charle- 
magne; the rise of the modern nations; the Crusades; 
the Hundred- Years' War ; and the Wars of the Roses. The 
era was in general characterized by the decline of letters 
and art, the rise of f eudahsm or the rule of the nobles, and 
the supremacy of the papal power. 

Two Divisions. — Six of the ten centuries composing this 
period are called the Darli Ages, — a long night following the 
briUiant day of Roman civilization. The last four centuries 
constitute the dawn of the modern era. Wandering tribes 
then became settled nations, learning revived, and order 
and civihzation began to resume their sway. 

A New Era of the world began in the 5th century. The 
gods of Greece and Rome had passed away, and a better 
religion was taking theii* place. The old actors had vanished 
from the stage, and strange names appeared. Europe pre- 
sented a scene of chaos. The institutions of centuries had 
crumbled. Everywhere among the ruins barbarian hordes 
were struggling for the mastery. Amid this confusion we 
are to trace the gradual outgrowth of the modern nation- 

Poland, Russia.— Locate Carthage, Jerusalem, Mecca, Damascus, Bagdad, Alex- 
andria, Acre, Tunis, Moscow, Delhi, Constantinople. 

liocate Tours, Rheims, Fontenay, Verdun, Cr6cy, Poitiers, Agincourt, Limoges, 
Calais, Rouen, Orleans, Metz, Avignon, Bordeaux.— Locate Cordova, Seville, Gra- 
nada, Castile, Aragon, Leon. 

Locate Lombardy, Sicily, Pisa, Genoa, Rome, Florence, Milan, Naples, Venice, 
Salerno, Legnano, Padua, Bologna, Savoy. 

Locate London, Hastings, Oxford, Runnymede, Lewes, Bosworth, Dover, Ban- 
nockburn.— Locate the Netherlands (Low Countries), Flanders, Bouvines, Courtrai, 
Ghent, Bruges, Rosebecque, Aix-la-Chapelle.— Describe the Indus, Rhine, Rhone, 
Danube, Seine, Loire.— Point out Bavaria, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia, 
Basle, Prague, Worms, Waiblingen. 

Point out the French provinces : Normandy, Provence, Aquitaine, Brittany, Bur- 
gundy, Champagne, Maine, Anjou, Toulouse, Valois, Navarre, Gascony, Lorraine, 
Armagnac, Alsace, Franche Com t6.— Locate Gran son, Morat, Nancy, Morgarten, 
Sempach, Geneva. 



318 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

alities.^ Heretofore the history of one great nation has been 
that of the civilized world, changing its name only as power 
passed, from time to time, into the hands of a different 
people. Henceforth there are to be not 0}ie but many cen- 
ters of civilization. 

Teutonic Settlements. — The Teutons or Germans 
(p. 322) were the chief heirs of Rome. By the 6th century 
the Vandals had estabhshed a province in northern Africa ; 
the Visigoths had set up a Gothic kingdom in Spain and 
southern Gaul (p. 268) ; the Franlcs, under Clovis, had 
firmly planted themselves in northern Gaul; the Burgun- 
dians had occupied southeastern Gaul; and the Anglo-Sax- 
ons had crossed the Channel and conquered a large part 
of Britain. 

The Ostrogoths, under Theodoric (489), climbed the Alps 
and overthrew Odoacer, King of Italy (p. 269). Theodoric 
established his government at Ravenna, under a nominal 
commission from the Emperor of Constantinople. The 
Visigoths accepted him as cliief, and his kingdom ultimately 
extended from the heart of Spain to the Danube. An 
Arian, he yet favored the Cathohcs, and, though unable 
to read or write, encouraged learning. "The fair-haired 
Goths," says Collier, " still wearing then- furs and brogues, 
carried the sword ; while the Romans, wrapped in the flow- 
ing toga, held the pen and filled the schools." 

Character of the Teutonic Conquest.^ — In Italy, 

1 The tliouglitlul student of history sees in the middle ages a tiiue not of decay, 
but of preparation ; a period during wliich the seeds of a better growth were germi- 
nating in the soil. Amid feudal chaos, the nations were being molded, language was 
forming, thought taking shape, and social forces were gathering that were to bear 
mankind to a higher civilization than tlie world had ever seen. 

2 While tlie Teutonic conquest, in the end, brought into medijeval civilization a 
new force, a sense of personal liberty, and domestic virtues unknown to the Ro- 
Inans, yet, at the time, it seemed an undoing of the best work of ages. During the 
merciless massacre that lasted for centuiies upon the island of Britain, the priests 
were slain at the altar, tlie churches burned, and the inhabitants nearly annihilated ; 



INTRODUCTION. 319 

Gaul, and Spain, the various Teutonic tribes did not expel, 
but absorbed, the native population. The two races gradu- 
ally blended. Out of the minghng of the German and the 
Roman speech, there grew up in time the Romance lan- 
guages, — Spanish, Italian, and French. Latin, however, 
was for centuries used in writing. Thus the Roman names 
and forms remained after the empire had fallen. The in- 
vaders adopted the laws, civihzation, and Christian religion 
of the conquered. The old clergy not only retained their 
places, but their influence was greatly increased; the 
churches became a common refuge, and the bishops the 
only protectors of the poor and weak. 

On the contrary, the Anglo-Saxons, who conquered Brit- 
ain, enslaved or di'ove back the few natives who survived 
the horrors of the invasion. Not having been, while in 
Germany, brought in contact with the Roman power, these 
Teutons had no respect for its superior civihzation. They 
did not, therefore, adopt either the Roman language or 
rehgion. Clmstianity came to them at a later day ; while 
the English speech i , still in its essence the same that our 
forefathers brought over from the wilds of Germany. 

The Eastern, Greek, or Byzantine Empire, as it is 
variously called, was governed by effeminate princes until 
the time of Justinian (527), who won back a large part of 



while the Roman and Christian civilization was blotted oiit, and a barbaric rule 
set up in its place. The cruel Vandals in Spain (p. 269) found fertile, populous 
Roman provinces; they left behind them a desert. The Burgundians were the 
mildest of the Teutonic conquerors, yet where they settled they compelled the in- 
habitants to jrive up two thirds of the land, one half of tlie houses, gardens, groves, 
etc., and one third of the slaves. Italy, under the ravages of the terrible Lombards 
and other northern hordes, became a " wilderness overgrown with brushwood and 
black with stagnant marshes." Its once cultivated fields were barren ; a few miser- 
able people wandered in fear among the ruins of the churches,— their hiding-places,— 
■wliile the land was covered with the bones of the slain. Rome became almost as 
desolate as Babylon. " The baths and temples had been spared by the barbarians, 
and the water still poured through the mighty aqueducts, but at one time there were 
not five hundred persons dwelling among the magnificent ruins." 



320 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

the lost empire. His famous general, Belisarius, captured 
Carthage/ and overwhelmed the Vandal power in Africa. 
He next invaded Italy and took Rome, but being recalled by 
Justinian, who was envious of the popularity of his great 
general, the eunuch Narses was sent thither, and, under his 
skilful management, the race and name of the Ostrogoths 
perished. Italy, her cities pillaged and her fields laid waste, 
was now united to the Eastern Empire, and governed by 
rulers called the Exarchs of Ravenna. So Justinian reigned 
over both new and old Rome. 

The Roman Laws at this time consisted of the decrees, 
and often the chance expressions, of the threescore emperors 
from Hadrian to Justinian. They filled thousands of vol- 
umes, and were frequently contradictory. Tribonian, a cele- 
brated lawyer, was employed to bring order out of this 
chaos. He condensed the laws into a code that is still the 
basis of the civil law of Europe. 

During this reign, two Persian monks, who had gone to 
China as Christian missionaries, brought back to Justinian 
the eggs of the silkworm concealed in a hollow cane. Silk 
manufacture was thus introduced into Europe. 

The Lombards (568), a fierce German tribe, after Jus- 
tinian's death, poured into Italy and overran the fruitful 
plain that still bears their name. For about 200 years the 
Lombard kings shared Italy with the Exarchs of Ravenna. 

The Papacy. — During these centuries of change, confu- 
sion, and ruin, the Christian Church had alone retained its 

1 Among the treasures of Cartilage were the sacred vessels of the Temple at Jeru- 
salem taken by Titus to Kome, and thence carried to Carthage by Genseric. As 
these relics were thought to presage ruin to the city which kept them, they were 
now returned to the Cathedral at Jerusalem, and their subsequent fate is unknown. 
According to the legend, contradicted by many historians but eagerly seized by 
poets and painters, Belisarius in his old age was falsely accused of treason, degraded 
from his honors, and deprived of his sight : often thereafter the blind old man was 
to be seen standing at the Cathedral door, begging " a penny for Belisarius, the 
general." 



INTRODUCTION. 



321 



organization. The barbarians, even the Lombards, — the 
most cruel of all, — were in time converted to Christianity. 
The people, who, until the overthrow of the emperor, had 
been accustomed to depend upon Rome for political guid- 
ance, continued to look to the Bishop of Rome for spiritual 
control and as a natural consequence the Church gradually 
became the center of vast temporal power also. Thus for 
centuries the papacy (Lat. imim, a bishop) gained strength ; 
the Christian fathers Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory 
the Great, and a host of other active intellects, shaping its 
doctrines and discipline. 

The Patriarch of Constantinople also asserted the pre- 
eminence of his See, and, on account of the opposition he 
met from Rome, the Eastern or Greek Church gradually 
separated from the Western or Roman, in interest, disci- 
pline, and doctrine. 




THE PAPAL INSIGNIA. 



322 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



EARLY GERMAN CIVILIZATION. 

Two thousand years ago, in the dense forests and gloomy marshes 
of a rude, bleak land, dwelt a gigantic, white-skinned, blue-eyed, yel- 
low-haired race. 

The Men, fierce and powerful, wore over their huge bodies a short 
girdled cloak, or the skin of some wild beast, whose head, with pro- 
truding tusks or horns, formed a hideous setting for their bearded faces 
and cold, cruel eyes. Brave, hospitable, restless, ferocious, they wor- 
shiped freedom, and were ready to fight to the death for their personal 
independence. They cared much less for agriculture than for hunting, 
and delighted in war. Their chief vices were gambling and drunken- 
ness ; their conspicuous virtues were truthfulness and respect for 
women. 

The Women — massive like the men, and wooed with a marriage 
gift of war-horse, shield, and weapons — spun and wove, cared for the 
household, tilled the ground, and went with their lords to battle, where 
their shouts rang above the clash of the spear and the thud of the war- 
ax. They held religious festivals, at which no man was allowed to be 
present, and they were believed to possess a special gift of foresight ; 
yet, for all that, the Teuton wife was bought from her kindred, and 
was subject to her spouse. As priestesses, they cut the throats of war- 
captives and read portents in the flowing blood ; and after a lost battle 
they killed themselves beside their slaughtered husbands. 

The Home — when there was one — was a hut made of logs filled in 
with platted withes, straw, and lime, and covered by a thatched roof, 
which also sheltered the cattle. Here the children were reared, har- 
dened from their babyhood with ice-cold baths, given weapons for play- 
things, and for bed a bear's hide laid on the ground. Many tribes were 
such lawless wanderers that they knew not the meaning of home, and 
all hated the confinement of walled towns or cities, which they likened 
to prisons. 

Civil Institutions and Government.— Every tribe had its nobles, 
freemen, freedmen, and slaves. When there was a king, he was 
elected from a royal family, — the traditional descendants of the 
divine Woden. All freemen had equal rights and a personal voice in 
the government ; the freedman or peasant was allowed to bear arms, 
but not to vote ; the slave was classed with the beast as the absolute 
property of his owner. 

The Land belonging to a tribe was divided into districts, hun- 
dreds, and marks. The inhabitants of a mark were usually kindred, 
who dwelt on scattered homesteads and held its unoccupied lands in 



INTRODUCTION. 323 

common. The mark and the hundred, as well as the district, had each 
its own stated open-air assembly, where were settled the petty local 
disputes ; its members sat together in the tribal assembly, and fought 
side by side in battle (compare with Greeks, p. 192). 

Tlie General Assembly of the tribe was also held in the open air, 
near some sacred tree, at new or full moon. Hither flocked all the 
freemen in full armor. The night was spent in noisy discussion and 
festive carousal. As the great ox-horns of ale or mead were passed 
from hand to hand, nieasures of gravest importance were adopted by a 
ringing clash of weapons or rejected with cries and groans, till the whole 
forest resoimded with the tumult. When the din became intolerable, 
silence was proclaimed in the name of the gods. The next day the few 
who were still sober reconsidered the night's debate, and gave a final 
decision. 

Tlie Family was the unit of German society. Every household 
was a little republic, its head being responsible to the community for 
its acts. The person and the home were sacred, and no law could 
seize a man in his own house ; in extreme cases, his well might be 
choked up, and his dwelling fii'ed or unroofed, but no one presumed to 
break open his door. As each family redressed its own wrongs, a slain 
kinsman was an appeal to every member for vengeance. The bloody 
complications to which this system led were in later times mitigated 
by the loeregeld, a legal tariff of compensations by which even a mur- 
derer (if not willful) might " stop the feud " by paying a prescribed sum 
to the injured family (p. 348). 

Fellowship in Arms. — The stubbornness with which the Ger- 
man resisted personal coercion was equaled by his zeal as a voluntary 
follower. From him came the idea of giving service for reward, which 
afterward expanded into feudalism (p. 408), and influenced Eui-opean 
society for hundreds of years. In time of war, young freemen were 
wont to bind themselves together under a chosen leader, whom they 
hoisted on a shield, and thus, amid the clash of arms and smoke of 
sacrifice, formally adopted as their chief. Henceforth they rendered him 
an unswerving devotion. On the field they were his body-guard, and 
in peace they lived upon his bounty, sharing in the rewards of victory. 
For a warrior to return aHve from a battle in which his leader was 
slain was a lifelong disgrace. — These voluntary unions formed the 
strength of the army. The renown of a successful chief spread to other 
tribes ; presents and embassies were sent to him ; his followers multi- 
plied, and his conquests extended until, at last, — as in the Saxon inva- 
sions of England, — he won for himself a kingdom, and made princes of 
his bravest liegemen. 

The Grermans fought with clubs, lances, axes, arrows, and spears. 
They roused themselves to action with a boisterous war-song, increas- 



324 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



ing the frightful clamor by placing their hollow shields before their 
faces. Metal armor and helmets were scarce, and shields were made 
of wood or platted twigs, l Yet when Julius Csesar crossed the Rhine, 
even his iron-clad legions did not daunt these sturdy warriors, who 
boasted that they upheld the heavens with their lances, and had 




ELEVATING OX THE .SHIELD. 

not slept under a roof for years. They fiercely resisted the encroach- 
ments of their southern invaders, and when, at the close of the 2d 
century a. d., the emperor Commodus bought with gold the peace he 
could not win with the sword, he found that one tribe alone had taken 
fifty thousand, and another one hundred thousand, Roman prisoners. 

The Teutonic Religion encouraged bravery and even reckless- 
ness in battle, for it taught that only those who fell by the sword could 
enter Walhalla, the palace of the great god Woden, whither they 



1 What they lacked in armor they made up in pluck and endurance. When the 
Cimbri invaded Italy by way of the Tyrol (102 B. c), they stripped their huge bodies 
and plunged into the frozen snow, or, sitting on their gaudy shields, coasted down 
the dangerous descents with shouts of savage laughter, while the Komans in the 
passes below looked on in wondering dismaj\ 



INTRODUCTION. 325 

mounted on the rainbow, and where they fought and feasted forever. 
Those who died of illness or old age went to a land of ice and fogs. 
The gods — including the sun, moon, and other powers of nature — were 
worshiped in sacred groves, on heaths and holy mountains, or under 
single gigantic trees. Human sacrifices were sometimes offered ; but 
the favorite victim, as in ancient Persia, was a horse, the flesh of which 
was cooked and eaten by the worshipers. In later times the eating of 
horseflesh became a mark of distinction between heathen and Christian. 
Our week-days perpetuate the names under which some of the chief 
Teutonic gods were known. Thus we have the Sun-dsby, the Moon-day, 
TuVs day, Woden's day, Thor's day, Freya-day, and Sci'tcr-da,y. 

Agriculture, Arts, and Letters. — Among the forests and the 
marshes of Gennany, the Romans found cultivated fields and rich pas- 
tures. There were neither roads nor bridges, but for months in the 
year the gi'eat rivers were frozen so deeply that an army could pass on 
the ice. From the iron in the mountains the men made domestic, 
farming, and war utensils, and from the flax in the field the women 
spun and wove garments. There were rude plows for the farm, chariots 
for religious rites, and cars for the war-march ; but beyond these few 
simple arts, the Germans were little better than savages. — The time of 
Christ was near. Over four centuries had passed since the brilliant 
age of Pericles in Athens, and three centuries since the founding of 
the Alexandrian library j Virgil and Horace had laid down their pens, 
and Livy was still at work on his closely wi-itten parchments ; Rome, 
rich in the splendor of the Augustan age, was founding libraries, es- 
tablishing museums, and bringing forth poets, orators, and statesmen ; 
yet the gi-eat nation whose descendants were to include Goethe, 
Shakspere, and Mendelssohn, had not a native book, knew nothing of 
writing, and shouted its savage war-song to the uproar of rude drums 
and great blasts on the painted horns of a wild bull. 

The Germans in Later Times.— Before even the era of the 
Great Migration (p. 266), the fifty scattered tribes had become united 
in vast confederations, chief among which were the Saxons, AUcmanni, 
Burgundians, Goths, Frcoiks, Vandals, and Longohards (Lombards). 
Led sometimes by their hard forest fare, sometimes by the love of ad- 
venture, they constantly sent forth their surjilus population to attack 
and pillage foreign lands. For centuries Germany was like a hive 
whence ever and anon swarmed vast hordes of hardy warriors, who set 
out with their families and goods to find a new home. Legions of 
German soldiers were constantly enlisted to fight under the Roman 
eagles. The veterans returned home with new habits of thought and 
life. Their stories of the magnificence and gi'andeur of the Mistress of 
the World excited the imagination and kindled the ardor of their lis- 
teners. Gradually the Roman civilization and the glory of the Roman 



326 



MEDIAEVAL PEOPLES. 



name accomplished what the sword had failed to effect. Around the 
forts along the Ehine, cities grew up, such as Mayence, Worms, Baden, 
Cologne, and Strasburg. The frontier provinces slowly took on the 
habits of luxurious Rome. Merchants came thither with the rich 
fabrics and ornaments of the south and east, and took thence amber, 
fur, and human hair, — for, now that so many Germans had acquired 
fame and power in the imperial army, yellow wigs had become the 
Roman fashion. Commerce thus steadily filtered down through the 
northern forests, until at last it reached the Baltic Sea. 




GROUP OF ANCIENT ARMS. 



EISE OF THE SARACENS OR ARABS. 

lyEohammed. — Now for the first time since the over- 
tkrow of Carthage by Scipio (p. 235), a Semitic people 
comes to the front in history. Early in the 7th century 
there arose in Arabia a reformer named Mohammed/ who 



1 Mohammed, or Mahomet, was born at Mecca about 570 A. D. Left an orphan at 
an early age, he became a camel-driver, and finally entered the service of a rich 
widow named Khadijah. She was so pleased with his fidelity, that she offered him 
her hand, although she was forty, and he but twenty-five, years old. He was now 
free to indulge his taste for meditation, and often retired to the desert, spending 
whole nights in revery. At the age of forty— a mystic number in the East— he de- 
clared that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him in a vision, commissioning him to 
preach a new faith. Khadijah was his first convert. After a time he publicly re- 
nounced idol-worship, and proclaimed himself a prophet. Persecution waxed hot, 
and he was forced to flee for his life. This era is known among the Moslems 
as the Hegira. Mohammed now took refuge in a cave. His enemies came to the 
mouth, but, seeing a spider's web across the entrance, passed on in pursuit. The 
fugitive secured an asylum in Medina, where the new faith spread rapidly, and Mo- 
hammed soon found himself at the head of an army. Full of courage and enthusiasm, 
he aroused his followers to a fanatical devotion. Thus, in the battle of Muta, Jaafer, 



RISE OF THE SARACENS 



327 



taught a new religion. Its substance was, "There is but 
one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Converts wore 
made by force of arms. " Paradise," said Mohammed, " will 
be found in the shadow of the crossing of swords." The 
only choice given the vanquished Avas the Koran, tribute, or 
death. Before the close of his stormy life (632), the green- 
robed warrior-prophet had subdued the scattered tribes of 
Arabia, destroyed theii* idols, and united the people in one 
nation. 




E31PIRE OF THE CALIPHS Jv uj^/, ^ \V 

Middle of the Sth-Century 



The Caliphs, or successors of Mohammed, rapidly fol- 
lowed up the triumphs of the new faith. Syria and Palestine 
were conquered. When Jerusalem opened its gates, Omar, 
the second caliph, stern and ascetic, rode thither from Me- 
dina upon a red-haired camel, carrying a bag of rice, one 
of dates, and a leathern bottle of water. The mosque bear- 



wlien Ills right liaiul was struck oft", seized the banner in hia left, and, wlieu tlie left 
was severed, still embraced the flag with the bleeding stumps, keeping his place till 
he was pierced by fifty wounds.— Moliammed made knowTi his doctrines in fragments, 
which his followers wrote upon sheep-bones and palm-leaves. Ills successor, Abou 
Beker, collected these so-called revelations into the Koran,— the sacred book of the 
Mohammedans. 



328 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [668. 

ing his name still stands on the site of the ancient Temple. 
Persia was subdued, and the religion of Zoroaster nearly 
extinguished. Forty-six years after Mohammed's flight 
from Mecca, the scimiters of the Saracens were seen from 
the walls of Constantinople. During one siege of seven 
years (668-675), and another of thirteen months, nothing 
saved new Rome but the torrents of. Greek fire^ that 
poured from its battlements. Meanwhile, Egypt fell, and, 
after the capture of Alexandria, tlie flames of its fom- thou- 
sand baths 2 were fed for six months with the priceless man- 
uscripts from the library of the Ptolemies. Still westward 
through northern Africa the Arabs made their way, until at 
last their leader spurred his horse into the waves of the 
Atlantic, exclaiming, " Be my witness, God of Mohammed, 
that earth is wanting to my courage, rather than my zeal in 
thy service ! " 

Saracens invade Europe. — In 711 the turbaned Mos- 
lems crossed the Strait of -Gibraltar. Spain was quickly 
overrun, and a Moorish^ kingdom finally established that 
lasted until the year of the discovery of America (p. 405). 
The Mohammedan leader boasted that he would yet preach 
in the Vatican at Rome, and capture Constantinople, then, 
having overthi-own the Roman Empire and Christianity, 
he would return to Damascus and lay his victorious 
sword at the feet of the caliph. Soon the fearless riders 
of the desert poured through the passes of the Pyrenees 
and devastated southern Gaul. But on the plain of Tours 

1 This consisted of uaplitlia, sulphur, and pitch. It was often hurled in red-hot, 
liollow balls of iron, or blown through copper tubes fancifully shaped in imitation of 
savage monsters, that seemed to vomit forth a stream of liquid fire. 

2 Gibbon rejects this story: but the current statement is that Omar declared, " If 
the manuscripts agree with the Koran, they are useless ; if they disagree, tliey should 
be destroyed." 

3 The Saracens in Spain are usually called Moors,— a term originally applied to the 
dark-colored natives of northern Africa. 



732.] 



lilSE OP THE SARACENS, 



829 



(732) the Saracen host met the Franks (p. 331). On the 
seventh day of the furious struggle the Cross triumphed 
over the Crescent, and Europe was saved. Charles, the 
leader of the Franks, received henceforth the name of Mar- 
tel (the hammer) for the valor with which he pounded the 




CHARLES MARTEL AT THE BATTLE OF TOURS. 

Infidels on that memorable field. The Moslems never ven- 
tured northward again, and ultimately retired behind the 
barriers of the P^T:"enees. 

Extent of the Arab Dominion. — Exactly a century 
had now elapsed since the death of Mohammed, and the 
Saracen rule reached from the Indus to the Pyrenees. No 
empire of antiquity had such an extent. Only Greek fii-e on 
the East, and German valor on the West, had prevented the 
Moslem power from girdling the Mediterranean. 

Saracen Divisions. — For a time this vast empire held 



330 MEDIEVAL l>EOPLfiS. [800. 

together, and one calipli was obeyed alike in Spain and in 
Sinde. But disputes arose concerning the succession, and 
the empire was divided between the Ommiades, — descendants 
of Omar, — who reigned at Cordova, and the Abbassides, — 
descendants of the prophet's uncle, — who located their capi- 
tal at Bagdad. 

The year 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor 
at Rome (p. 333), saw two rival emperors among the Chris- 
tians, and two rival caliphs among the Mohammedans. As 
the Germans had before this pressed into the Roman Empire, 
so now the Turks invaded the Arab Empire. The Cahph 
of Bagdad formed his body-guard of Turks, — a pohcy that 
proved as fatal as enhsting the Goths into the legions of 
Rome, for the Turks eventually stripped the cahphs of 
their possessions in Asia and Africa. As the Teutons took 
the religion of the Romans, so also the Turks accepted the 
faith of the Arabs 5 and as the Franks ultimately became 
the vahant supporters of Christianity, so the Turks became 
the ardent apostles of the Koran. 



Saracen Civilization. — The furious fanaticism of the Arabs 
early changed into a love for the arts of peace. Omar, with his leathern 
bottle and bag of dates, was followed by men who reigned in palaces 
decorated with arabesques and adorned with flower-gardens and foun- 
tains. The caliphs at Cordova and Bagdad became rivals in luxury 
and learning, as well as in politics and religion. Under the fostering 
care of Haroun al Easchid, the hero of the " Arabian Nights " and eon- 
temporary of Charlemagne, Bagdad became the home of poets and 
scholars. The Moors in Spain erected structures whose magnificence 
and grandeur are yet attested by the ruins of the Mosque of Cordova 
and the Palace of the Alhambra. The streets of the cities were paved 
and lighted. The houses were frescoed and carpeted, warmed in 
winter by furnaces, and cooled in summer by perfumed air. 

Amid the ignorance which enveloped Europe during the dark ages, 
the Saracen Empire was dotted over with schools, to which students 
resorted from all parts of the world. There were colleges in Mongolia, 
Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Morocco, Fez, and Spain. The 



RISE OF THE PRANKISH EMPIRE. 331 

vizier of a sultan consecrated 200,000 pieces of gold to found a college 
at Bagdad. A physician declined to go to Bokhara, at the invitation 
of the sultan, on the plea that his private library would make four 
hundred camel-loads. Great public libraries were collected, — one at 
Cairo being said to number 100,000 volumes, and the one of the Spanish 
caliphs, 600,000. 

In science the Arabs adopted the inductive method of Aristotle 
(see p. 176), and pushed their experiments into almost every line 
of study. They originated chemistry, discovering alcohol and nitric 
and sulphuric acids. They understood the laws of falling bodies, of 
specific gravity, of the mechanical powers, and the general principles 
of light. They applied the pendulum to the reckoning of time ; ascer- 
tained the size of the earth by measuring a degree of latitude ; made 
catalogues of the stars ; introduced the game of chess ; employed in 
mathematics the Indian method of numeration ; gave to algebra and 
trigonometry their modern forms ; brought cotton manufacture into 
Eui'ope ; invented the printing of calico with wooden blocks ; and forged 
the Damascus and Toledo scimiters, whose temper is still the wonder 
of the world. 

RISE OF THE PRANKISH EMPIRE. 

The Franks, a German race, laid the foundation of 
France and Germany, and during nearly four centuries their 
history is that of both these countries. The conversion to 
Christianity of their chieftain Glovis was the turning-point in 
their career. In the midst of a great battle, he invoked the 
God of Clotilda, his wife, and vowed, if victorious, to em- 
brace her faith. The tide of disaster turned, and the grate- 
ful king, with three thousand of his bravest warriors, was 
soon after baptized at Rheims (496). The whole power of 
the Church was now enlisted in his cause, and he rapidly 
pushed his triumphal arms to the Pyrenees. He fixed his 
capital at Paris, and estabhshed the Merovingian, or fli-st 
Prankish dynasty (Brief Hist. France, p. 13). 

The Descendants of Clovis were at fii-st wicked, then 
weak, until finally all power fell into the hands of the prime 
minister, or Mayor of the Palace. We have already heai'd 



332 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [73i 

of one of these mayors, Charles Martel, at Tours. His son, 
Pepin the SJiort, after his accession to ofifice, was determined 
to be king in name as well as in authority. He deposed 
Ohilderic, — the last of the ''do-nothing" monarchs, — and 
Pope Stephen the Third confirmed, by his apostolical author- 
ity, both the deposition and the Carlovingian claim to the 
throne. This done, Pepin was lifted on a shield, and made 
king. Thus the Carlovingian, or second Frankish dynasty, 
was established (752). At the request of the Pope, then 
hard pressed by the Lombards, Pepin crossed the Alps and 
conquered the province of Ravenna, which he gave to the 
Holy See. This donation was the origin of the temporal 
power of the Pope, which lasted 1115 years. 

With Charlemagne (Charles the Great), Pepin's son, 
began a new era in the history of Europe. His plan was to 
unite the fragments of the old Roman Empire. To effect 
this, he used two powerful sentiments, — patriotism and re- 
ligion. Thus, while he cherished the institutions which 
the Teutons loved, he protected the Church, and carried 
the cross at the head of his army. He undertook fifty- 
three expeditions against twelve different nations. Gauls, 
Saxons, Danes, Saracens,^ — all felt the prowess of his arms. 
Entering Italy, he defeated the Lombards, and placed upon 
his own head their famous iron crown. After thirty-three 
years of bloody war, his scepter was acknowledged from the 
German Ocean to the Adriatic, and from the Channel to the 
Lower Danube. His renown reached the far East, and 
Haroun al Raschid sought his friendship, sending him an 

1 While Charlemagne's army, on its return from Spain, was passing through the 
narrow pass of Roncesvalles, the rear-guard was attacked by the Basques. According 
to tradition, Roland, the Paladin, long refused to hlow his horn for aid, and only with 
his dying breath signaled to Charlemagne, who returned too late to save his gal- 
lant comrades. " Centuries have passed since that fatal day, but the Basque peasant 
still sings of Roland and Charlemagne, and still the traveler seems to see tlie long 
line of white turbans and swarthy faces winding slowly through the woods, and of 
Arab spear-heads glittering in the sun." 



800.] 



RISE OF THE FRANKISH EMPIKE. 



838 



elephant (an animal never before seen by the Franks), and 
a clock wliich struck the hours. 

Charlemagne crowned Emperor.— On Christmas 
Day, 800, as Charlemagne was bending in prayer before the 
high altar of St. Peter's at Rome, Pope Leo unexpectedly 




Boundary of Eminre of Charltmayne 

DivUion of .. .< hy Treaty of Verdun ^ + + ++++.^ 

Boundaries oj Ine Seven Kivijdoim ^^ +^^^^ gyd and 



MAr 



OF THE EMl'IKK OF CHAULKMAGNE. 



placed on his head the crown of the CtBsars. The Western 
Empire was thus restored ; the old empire was finally divided • 
there were two emperors, — one at Rome, and one at Constan- 
tinople; and from this time the Roman emperors were 
''Kings of the Franks." They hved very little at Rome, 



334 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[768-814. 



however, and spoke German, Latin being the language only 
of religion and government. 




C'HAULEMAGNK CUOW.NKU. 



Government. — Charlemagne songht to organize by law 
the various peoples he had conquered by the sword. His 
vast empire was divided into districts governed by counts. 
Royal delegates visited each district four times a year, to 
redress grievances and administer justice. Diets took the 
place of the old German armed assemblies, and a series of 
ccqntularies was issued, containing the laws and the advice 
of the emperor. But the work of Charlemagne's life per- 
ished with him. 

A Division of the Frankish Empire. — His feeble 
son Louis quickly dissipated this vast inheritance among his 
children. They quarreled over their respective shares, and 
after Louis's death fought out their dispute on the field of 
Fontenay. This dreadful "Battle of the Brothers" was fol- 



843.] 



RISE OP THE FRANKISH EMPIRE. 



335 



lowed by the Treaty of Verdun (843), which divided the 
empire among them. 

Beginnings of France and Germany. — Lothaire^s 
kingdom was called after him Lotharingia, and a part of it 
is stiU known as Lorraine. Louis's kingdom was termed 
East Frankland, but the word Deutsch (German) soon 
came into nse, and Germany in 1843 celebrated its 1000th 
anniversary, dating from the Treaty of Verdun. Charles's 
kingdom was styled West Frankland (Lat. Francia, whence 
the word France) -, its monarch still clung to his Teutonic 
dress and manners, but the separation from Germany was 
fairly accomplished ; the two countries spoke different lan- 
guages, and Charles the Bald is ranked as the first king 
of France. 

Thus, during the 9th century, the map of Europe began 
to take on something of its present appearance, and for the 
fii'st time we may ventiu-e to use the geographical divisions 
now familiar to us, though they were stiU far from having 
then* present meaning. 



Charlemagne and his 
Court. — In person, di^ess, 
speech, and tone of mind, 
Charlemagne was a true 
German. Large, erect, mus- 
cular, with a clear eye and 
dignified but gracious man- 
ner, his shrill voice and 
short neck were forgotten 
in the general grandeur of 
his presence. Keen to de- 
tect, apt to understand, pro- 
found to grasp, and quick 
to decide, he impressed all 
who knew him with a sense 
of his power. Like his rude 
ancestors of centuries be- 
fore, he was hardy in his 




CHAKLEMAGNE. 



336 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

habits, and unconcerned about his dress ; but, unlike them, he was 
strictly temperate in food and drink. Drunkenness he abhorred. In 
the industrial schools which he established, his own daughters were 
taught to work, and the garments he commonly wore were woven by 
their hands. He discouraged extravagance in his courtiers, and once 
when hunting, — he in simple Frankish dress and sheepskin cloak, 
they in silk and tinsel-embroidered robes, — he led them through mire 
and brambles in the midst of a furious storm of wind and sleet, and 
afterward obliged them to dine in their torn and bedraggled fineries. 
Twice in his life he wore a foreign dress, and that was at Rome, where 
he assumed a robe of purple and gold, encircled his brow with jewels, 
and decorated even his sandals with precious stones. His greatest 
pride was in his sword, Joyeuse, the handle of which bore his signet, 
and he was wont to say, " With my sword I maintain all to which I 
affix my seal." Generous to his friends, indulgent to his children, and 
usually placable to his enemies, his only acts of cruelty were perpe- 
trated on the Saxons. They, true to the Teutonic passion for liberty, 
for thirty-three years fought and struggled against him ; and, though 
by his orders forty-five hundred were beheaded in one day, they con- 
tinued to rebel till hopelessly subdued. 

The Imperial Palaces were magnificent, and the one at Aix-la- 
Chapelle was so luxurious that people called it ^^ Little Rome." It 
contained extensive halls, galleries, and baths for swimming, — an art 
in which Charlemagne excelled, — mosaic pavements and porphyry 
pillars from Ravenna, and a college, library, and theater. There were 
gold and silver tables, sculptured drinking-cups, and elaborately carved 
wainscoting, while the courtiers, dressed in gay and richly wrought 
robes, added to the brilliancy of the surroundings. Charlemagne 
gave personal attention to his different estates ; he prescribed what 
trees and flowers should grow in his gardens, what meat and vege- 
tables should be kept in store, and even how the stock and poultry 
should be fed and housed. 

The College at Aix-la-Chapclle was presided over by Alcuin, an 
Anglo-Saxon monk whom Charlemagne had invited to his court, — for 
he surrounded himself with scholars rather than warriors. With his 
learned favorites and royal household the Great King devoted himself 
to science, belles-lettres, music, and the languages, and became, next 
to Alcuin, the best-educated man of the age. It was an arousing of 
literature from a sleep of centuries, and while Alcuin explained the 
theories of Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato, or quoted Homer, Virgil, 
and Pliny, the delighted listeners were fired with a passion for learn- 
ing. In their enthusiasm they took the names of their classical 
!avorites, and Homer, Pindar, Virgil, Horace, and Calliope sat down 
together in the Frankish court, the king himself appearing as the royal 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 337 

• 
Hebrew, David. Besides this court school, Charlemagne organized at 
Paris the first European university, established academies throughout 
the empire, and required that every monastery which rie founded or 
endowed should support a school. He encouraged the copying of 
ancient manuscripts, and corrected the text of the Greek gospels. Like 
Pliny, he had books read to him at meals, — St. Augustine being his 
favorite author, — and, like Pisistratus, he collected the scattered frag- 
ments of the ancient national poetry. He even began a German gram- 
mar, an experiment which was not repeated for hundreds of years. 
Yet, though he mastered Latin, read Greek and some oriental lan- 
guages, delighted in astronomy, attempted poetrj^, and was learned in 
rhetoric and logic, this great king stumbled on the simple art of -wTit- 
ing ; and, though he kept his tablets under his pillow that he might 
press every waking moment into service, the hand that could so easily 
wield the ponderous iron lance was conquered by the pen. 

Wonderful indeed was the electricity of this powerful nature, the 
like of which had not been seen since the day of Julius Caesar, and was 
not to reappear until the day of Charles V, But no one man can make 
a ci\dlization. '^ In vain," says Duruy, ''did Charlemagne kindle the 
flame ; it was only a passing torch in the midst of a profound night. 
In vain did he strive to create commerce and trace with his own hand 
the plan of a canal to connect the Danube and the Rhine ; the ages of 
commerce and industry were yet far distant. In vain did he imite 
Germany into one vast empire ; even while he lived he felt it breaking 
in his hands. And this vast and wise organism, this revived civiliza- 
tion, all disappeared with him who called it forth." 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS. 

We now enter upon the early political history of the prin- 
cipal European nations, and shall see how, amid the darkness 
of the middle ages, the foundations of the modern states 
were slowly laid. 

I. ENGLAND. 

The Four Conquests of England.— (1) Roman Con- 
quest — About a century after Caesar's invasion, Agi-icola 
reduced Britain to a Roman province. WaUs were built to 
keep back the Highland Celts ; paved roads were constructed ; 
fortified towns sprang up ; the Britons became Christians ; 



338 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[410. 



and the young natives learned to talk Latin, wear the toga, 
and frequent the bath. 

(2) Anglo-Saxon Conquest. — While Alaric was thunder- 
ing at the gates of Rome (p. 267), the veteran legions were 
recalled to Italy. The wild Celts of the north now swarmed 
over the deserted walls, and ravaged the country. The 
Britons, in then- extremity, appealed to Horsa and Hen- 




THE FOUR CONQUESTS OF ENGLAND. 

gist, two German adventurers then cruising off their coast. 
These di-ove back the Celts, rewarding themselves by seizing 
the land they had delivered. -Fresh bands of Teutons — 
chiefly Angles (English) and Saxons — followed, driving the 
rem aining Britons into Wales. The petty Pagan kingdoms 



827.1 I^ISE OF MODERN NATION S — ENGLAND. 389 

which the Germans established (known as the Saxon Hep- 
tarchy) were continually at war, but Christianity was reintro- 
duced by St. Augustine,^ and they were finally united in 
one nation (827) by King Eghert, a contemporary and friend 
of Charlemagne. 

(3) Banish Conquest. — During the 9th century, England, 
like France (p. 354) and Germany, was ravaged by hordes of 
northern pirates. In their light boats they ascended the 
rivers, and, landing, seized horses and scoured the country, to 
plunder and slay. Mercy seemed to them a crime, and they 
destroyed all they could not remove. The Danish invaders 
were finally beaten back by Egbert's grandson,'^ Alfred the 
Great (871-901), and order was restored, so that, according 
to the old chroniclers, a bracelet of gold could be left hang- 
ing by the roadside without any one daring to touch it. 
A century later the Northmen came in greater numbers, 
bent on conquering the country, and the Danish king 
Canute (Knut)^ won the Enghsh crown (1017). 

(4) N^orman Conquest. — The English soon tired of the 
reckless rule of Canute's sons, and called to the throne 
Edivard the Confessor (1042), who belonged to the old 



1 Gregory, when a deacou, was once attracted by the beauty of some light-haired 
■boys in tlie Roman slave-market. Being told that they were Angles, he replied, 
" Not Angles, but angels." When he became Pope, he remembered the fair cap- 
tives, and sent a band of monks under St. Augustine as missionaries to England. 
They landed on the same spot where llengist had nearlj' 150 j-ears before. 

2 The early chronicles abound in romantic stories of this "best of England's 
kings." While a fugitive from the Danes, he took lefuge in the hut of a swineherd. 
One day the housewife had him turn some cakes that were baking upon the hearth. 
Absorbed in thouglit, the young king forgot liis task. When the good woman 
returned, finding the cakes burned, she rouudlj'^ scolded him for his carelessness. 

3 Many beautiful legends illustrate the character of this wondeiinl man. One 
day his couitiers told liim that his power was so great that even the sea obeyed him. 
To rebuke this foolish flattery, tlie king seated liiniself bj' the shore, and ordered the 
waves to retire. But the tide rose higher and higher, until finally the surf dashed 
over his person. Turning to his flatterers, he said, "Ye see now liow weak is tlie 
power of kings and of all men. Honor then God onlj-, and serve llim, for Him do all 
things obey." On going back to Winchester, he hung his crown over the oraoifix on 
the high altar, and never wore it again. 



340 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [1066. 

Saxon line. On his death, Harold was chosen king. But 
William, Duke of Normandy (p. 356), claimed that Edward 
had promised him the succession, and that his cousin, Harold, 
had ratified the pledge. A powerful Norman army accord- 
ingly invaded England. Harold was slain in the battle of 
Hastings, and on Christmas Day, 1066, William was crowned 
in Westminster Abbey as King of England. 

The following table contains the names of the English kings from 
the time of the Conquest to the end of the middle ages. The limits of 
this history forbid a description of their separate reigns, and permit 
only a consideration of the events that, during this period of four cen- 
turies, were conspicuous in the '^making of England." 



O 
< 

Ah 
r ^ 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR (1066-87). 

I \ 1 

WILLIAM RUFUS (1087-1100). HENRY BEAUCLERC ADELA, m. STEPHEN 

(1100-35). Of Blois. 

STEPHEN (1135-54). 



MATILDA, m. GEOFFREY 
PLANTAGENET Of ACJOU. 



HENRY II. (1154-89). 



RICHARD CCEUR DE LION (1189-99). JOHN (1199-1216). 



HENRY III. (1216-72). 
EDWARD I. (1272-1307). 
EDWARD II. (1307-27). 

EDWARD III. (1327-77). 

I 



I I 

LIONEL, DUKE OF CLARENCE EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE. 

(Third son Of Edward III.). I 

RICHARD II. (1377-99). 

i)uke Jf^'iuSer. \ Fourth son of Edward III. 

I 

HENRY IV. (1399-1413). 

HENRY V. (141.3-22). 

I 



^ { HENRY VI. (1422-61). 

^Oh f EDWARD IV. (1461-83). Descendant of Lionel, tliird son of Edward III. 

Pp I I 

O^ { EDWARD V. (1483). With Ills brother Richard, murdered in the Tower. 



O I RICHARD III. (1483-85). Youngest brother of Edward IV. Fell at Bosworth. 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 341 



Results of the Norman Conquest.— Willip-m took 
advantage of repeated revolts of the English to conquer the 
nation thoroughly, to establish the feudal system ^ in Eng- 
land, and to confiscate most of the large domains and confer 

them upon his follow- 
ers. Soon eveiy office 
in Church and State 
was filled by the Nor- 
mans. Castles were 
erected, where the new 
nobles lived and lorded 
it over their poor Saxon 
dependants. Crowds 
of Norman workmen 
and traders flocked 
across the Channel. 
Thus there were two 
peoples living in Eng- 
land side by side. 
But the Normans were 
kinsfolk of the English, 
being Teutons with 
only a French veneer, 
and the work of union began speedily. Henry I., the Con- 
queror's son, married the niece of Edgar Atheling, — the last 
of the Saxon princes ; while, from the reign of Henry II., ties 
of kindred and trade fast made Normans and Englishmen 
indistinguishable. Finally, in Edward I., England had a 
king who was English at heart. 

At first there were two languages spoken 5 the Norman 
being the fashionable tongue, and the Saxon the common 




WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 



1 The pupil should here carefully read the sections ou feudalism, etc., p. 408, 
in order to understand the various feudal terms used in the text. 



342 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

speech ; but slowly, as the two peoples combined, the two 
languages coalesced. 

From time to time many of the English took to the woods 
and lived as outlaws, like the famous Robin Hood in the 
days of Richard I. But the sturdy Saxon independence and 
the Norman skill and learning gradually blended, giving to 
the English race new hf e and enterprise, a firmer government, 
more systematic laws, and more permanent institutions. 

The Saxon weapon was the battle-ax 3 the Norman gen- 
tleman fought on horseback with the spear, and the footman 
with bow and arrow. Less than three centuries found the 
English yeoman on the field of Crecy (p. 361), under Edward 
III. and the Black Prince, overwhelming the French with 
shafts from their longbows, while the English knight was 
armed cap-a-pie, with helmet on head, and lance in hand. 

William, though King of England, still held Normandy, 
and hence remained a vassal of the King of France. This 
complication of English and French interests became a 
fruitful source of strife. The successors of Hugh Capet 
(p. 356) were forced to fight a vassal more powerful than 
themselves, while the EngUsh sovereigns sought to dismem- 
ber and finally to conquer France. Long and bloody wars 
were waged. Nearly five centuries elapsed before the Eng- 
lish monarchs gave up their last stronghold in that country, 
and were content to be merely British kings. 

Growth of Constitutional Liberty. — 1. Eimnymede 
and Magna CJiarta. — WiUiam the Conqueror easily curbed 
the powerful English vassals whom he created. But during 
the disturbances of succeeding reigns the barons acquired 
great power, and their castles became mere robbers' nests, 
whence they plundered the common people without mercy. 
The people now sided with the Crown for protection. 
Henry II. established order, reformed the law-courts, organ- 



1215.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 343 

ized an army, destroyed many of the castles of the tyrannical 
nobles, and created new barons^ who, being English, were 
ready to make common cause with the nation. Unfortu- 
nately, Henry alienated the affections of his people by his 
long quarrel with Thomas a Becket, who, as a loyal English 
priest, stood up for the rights of the Church, — through the 
middle ages the refuge of the people, — and opposed to the 
death the increasing power of the Norman king. Henry's 
son John brought matters to a crisis by his brutality and 
exactions. He imposed taxes at pleasure, wi^onged the poor, 
and plundered the rich.^ At last the patience of peasant 
and noble alike was exliausted, and the whole nation rose up 
in insurrection. The barons marched with their forces 
against the king, and at Bunnymede (1215) compelled him 
to grant the famous Great Charter (Magna Charta). 

Henceforth the king had no right to demand money when 
he pleased, nor to imprison and punish whom he pleased. 
He was to take money only when the barons granted the 
privilege for pubUc purposes, and no freeman was to be pun- 
ished except when his countrymen judged him guilty of 
crime. The courts were to be open to all, and justice was 
not to be " sold, refused, or delayed." The serf, or villein, 
was to have his plow free from seizure. The Chui'ch was 
secured against the interference of the king. No class was 
neglected, but each obtained some cherished right. 

Magna Charta ever since has been the foundation of Eng- 
lish hberty, and, as the kings were always trying to break it, 
they have been compelled, during succeeding reigns, to con- 
j&rm its provisions thirty-six times. 

2. Hotise of Commons. — Henry III., foolishly fond of for- 
eign favorites, yielded to their advice, and lavished upon 

1 At one time, it is said, lie tlirew into prison a wealthy Jew, who refused to give 
Mm an enormous sum of money, and pulled out a tooth every day until the tortured 
Hebrew paid the required amount. 



344 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [13th cent. 

them large sums of money. Once more the barons rose in 
arms, and under the lead of Simon de Montfort, Earl of 
Leicester, — a Frenchman by birth, but an Englishman in 
feeling, — defeated the king at Leives. Earl Simon thereupon 
called together the Parliament, summoning, besides the 
barons, two knights from each county, and two citizens 
from each city or borough, to represent the freeholders 
(1265). From this beginning, the Enghsh Parliament soon 
took on the form it has since retained, of two assemblies, — 
the House of Lords and the House of Commons. By de- 
grees it was estabhshed that the Commons should have the 
right of petition for redress of grievances, and the sole power 
of voting taxes. 

The 13th century is thus memorable in English history for 
the granting of Magna Charta and the forming of the House of 
Commons. 

Conquest of Ireland begun. — Henry II., having oh 
tained permission from the Pope to invade Ireland, author 
ized an army of adventurers to overrun that island. Il 
1171 he visited Ireland, and his sovereignty was generally 
acknowledged. Henceforth the country was under Enghsh 
rule, but it remained in disorder, the battle-ground of Irish 
chiefs, and Norman-descended lords who became as savage 
and lawless as those whom they had conquered. 

Conquest of Wales (1283).— The Celts had long pre- 
served their liberty among the mountains of Wales and 
Scotland. Edward I.'s ambition was to rule over the whole 
of the island. When Llewellyn, the Welsh chieftain, refuse(3 
to yield him the usual homage, he invaded the country and 
annexed it to England. To propitiate the Welsh, he prom- 
ised them a native-born king who could not speak a word of 
English, and thereupon presented them his son, born a few 
days before in the Welsh castle of Caernarvon. The young 



1283.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 345 

Edward was afterward styled the Prince of Wales, — a title 
ever since borne by the sovereign's oldest son. 

Conquest of Scotland.— Edward I., having been chosen 
umpire between two claimants for the Scottish throne, — 
Robert Bruce and John Bahol, — decided in favor of the 
latter. Both had agreed to pay homage to the English 
monarch as their feudal lord. The Scots, impatient of their 
vassalage, revolted, whereupon Edward took possession of 
the country as a forfeited fief (1296). Again the Scots rose 
under the patriot William Wallace; but he was defeated, 
taken to London, and brutally executed. Robert Bruce was 
the next leader. Edward marched against him, but died in 
sight of Scotland. The English soldiers, however, harried 
the land, and drove Bruce from one hiding-place to another. 
Almost in despair, the patriot lay one day sleepless on his 
bed, where he watched a spider jumping to attach its thread 
to a wall. Six times it failed, but succeeded on the seventh. 
Bruce, encouraged by this simple incident, resolved to try 
again. Success came. Castle after castle fell into his hands, 
until only Stirling remained. Edward II., going to its 
relief, met Bruce at Bannockhurn (1314). The Scottish army 
was defended by pits, having sharp stakes at the bot- 
tom, and covered at the top with sticks and tui^f. The 
Enghsh knights, galloping to the attack, plunged into these 
hidden holes. In the midst of the confusion a body of sut- 
lers appeared on a distant hiU, and the dispirited EngUsh, 
mistaking them for a new army, fled in dismay. 

Scottish Independence was acknowledged (1328).^ After 

1 It is noticeable that there existed a constant alliance of Scotland and France. 
Whenever, during the 14th and 15th centuries, war broke out between France and 
England, the Scots made a diversion by attacking England, and their soldiers often 
took service in the French armies on the continent. So if we learn that, at any 
time during this long period, France and England were fighting, it is pretty safe to 
conclude that along the borders of England and Scotland there were plundering-raids 
and skimiishes. 



346 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [14th cent. 

this, many wars arose between Scotland and England, but 
Scotland was never in danger of being conquered. 

The Hundred- Years' War with France was the event 
of the 14th and the first half of the 15th century (p. 360). 

Wars of the Roses (1455-85).— About the middle of 
the 15th century a struggle concerning the succession to the 
English throne arose between the Houses of York and Lan- 
caster, the former being descended from the third, and the 
latter from the fourth, son of Edward III. (p. 340). A civil 
war ensued, known as the Wars of the Roses, since the 
adherents of the House of York wore, as a badge, a white 
rose, and those of Lancaster, a red one. The contest 
lasted thirty years, and twelve pitched battles were fought. 
During this war the House of York seated three kings upon 
the throne. But the last of these, Richard III., a brutal 
tyrant whom prose and poetry ^ have combined to condemn, 
was slain on the field of Boswortli, and the red rose j)laced 
the crown on the head of its representative, Henry VII. 
Thus ended the Plantagenet Line, which had ruled England 
for three centuries 5 the new house was caUed the Tudor 
Line, from Henry's family name. 

The Result of this civil war was the triumph of the 
kingly power over that of the aristocracy. It was a war 
of the nobles and their military retainers. Except in the 
immediate march of the armies, the masses pursued their 
industries as usual. Men plowed and sowed, bought and 
sold, as though it were a time of peace. Both sides pro- 
tected the neutral citizens, but were bent on exterminating 
each other. No quarter was asked or given.^ During the 
war, eighty princes of the blood and two hundred nobles 

1 Read Shakspere's play, Richard III. 

2 When Edward IV. galloped over the field of battle after a victory, he would 
shout, •' Spare the soldiers, but slay the gentlemen." 



1485.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 347 

fell by the sword, and half the families of distinction were 
destroyed. The method of holding land was changed, and 
^' landlord and tenant " took the place of " lord and vassal." 
The Earl of Warwick, whose powerful influence in seating 
and unseating monarchs won him the title of "The King- 
maker," was also " The Last of the Barons." The king hence- 
forth had little check, and the succeeding monarchs ruled 
with an authority before unknown in English history. 
Constitutional liberty, which had been steadily growing 
since the day of Runnymede, now gave place to Tudor 
absolutism. The field of Bosworth, moreover, marked the 
downfall of feudalism; with its disappearance the middle 
ages came to an end. 

EARLY ENGLISH CIVILIZATION. 

The Anglo-Saxons. — The German invaders brought to England 
their old traits and customs, in which traces of Paganism lingered long 
after Christianity was formally adopted. Coming in separate bands, 
each fighting and conquering for itself, the most successful chieftains 
founded kingdoms. The royal power gi*adually increased, though 
always subject to the decisions of the Witan, composed of earls, prel- 
ates, and the leading thanes and clergy. The Witenagemot (Assem- 
bly of "Wise Men), a modification of the ancient German Assembly, 
was held at the Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide festivals. This 
body could elect and depose the king, who was chosen from the royal 
family. 1 

The carls or clid-cs represented the old German nobility; the thanes 
or gentry were attached to the king and nobles ; and the ceorls or 
yeomen, freemen in name, were often semi-servile in obligations. 
Lowest of all, and not even counted in the population, was a liost of 
thralls, — hapless slaves who were sold with the land and cattle, one 
slave equaling four oxen in value. A ceorl who had acquired "five 
hides 2 of land, church and kitchen, bell-house and burh-gate-seat, and 
special duty in the king's hall," or a merchant who had thrice crossed 

1 Every tribal kins claimed descent from Woden. To the House of Cerdic, the 
founder of the West-Saxon dynasty, is traced the pedigree of Queen Victoria. 

2 The dimensions of a hide were perhaps about thirty acres. The burh was the 
home-yard and buildings, entered through a gate in the earth-wall inclosure. 



348 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

the seas on his own account, might become a thane ; and in certain 
cases a slave might earn his freedom. 

Shires, Hundreds, and Tithings.— Ten Anglo-Saxon families 
made a tithing, and by a system of mutual police or frank-pledge, each 
one became bail for the good conduct of the other nine. Ten tithings 
made a hundred, names which soon came to stand for the soil on which 
they lived. The land conferred in individual estates was called boMand 
(book-land) ; that reserved for the public use was folkland. 

The iceregeld (life-money) and wihtgeld (crime-money) continued in 
force, and covered nearly every possible crime, from the murder of a 
king to a bruise on a comrade's finger-nail. As part of the crime-money 
went to the Crown, it was a' goodly source of royal income. The amount 
due increased with the rank of the injured party ; thus, the weregeld 
of the West-Saxon king was six times that of the thane, and the thane's 
was four times that of the ceorl. The weregeld also settled the value 
of an oath in the law-courts: '^A thane could outswear half a dozen 
ceorls ; an earl could outswear a whole township." The word of the 
king was ordered to be taken without an oath. Some crimes, such as 
premeditated murder or perjury after theft, were inexpiable. 

The Ordeals were used in cases of doubtful guilt. Sometimes a 
caldron of boiling water or a red-hot iron was brought before the 
com't. The man of general good character was made to plunge his 
hand in the water or to carry the iron nine paces ; but he of ill repute 
immersed his arm to the elbow, and was given an iron of treble weight. 
After three days he was declared guilty or innocent, according to the 
signs of perfect healing. Sometimes the accused was made to walk 
blindfolded and barefooted over red-hot plowshares ; and sometimes 
he was bound hand and foot, and thrown into a pond, to establish his 
innocence or guilt, according as he sank or floated. Ordeals were for- 
mally abolished by the Church in the 13th century. 

The Duel, in which the disputants or their champions fought, was 
transplanted from Normandy about the time of the Conquest ; and the 
Grand Assize, the first establishment in regular legal form of trial by 
jury, was introduced by Henry II. 

Commerce was governed by strict protective laws ; and every pur- 
chase, even of food, had to be made before witnesses. If a man went 
to a distance to buy any article, he must first declare his intention to 
his neighbors ; if he chanced to buy while absent, he must publish the 
fact on his return. Nothing could be legally bought or sold for three 
miles outside a city's walls, and the holder of wares whose purchase in 
open market could not be proved, not only forfeited the goods, but was 
obliged to establish his character for honesty before the legal inspector 
of sales. Judging from the laws, theft and smuggling, though pun- 
ished with great severity were prevalent crimes. 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND. 349 

Solitary travelers were regarded with suspicion, and an early law 
declared that " if a man come from afar or a stranger go out of the 
highway, and he then neither shout nor blow a horn, he is to be ac- 
counted a thief, either to be slain or to be redeemed." 





plSlr vj'^^^^r^ 






■ 


^^^^^H ! y^M ^^' ^HHIiiiitHl^l i^^i 







THE SCUIPTORIUM OF A MONASTERY.— A MONK ILLUMINATING A MANUSCRIPT. 

Literature and the Arts flourished only in convents, where the 
patient monks wrought in gold, silver, and jewels, and produced exqui- 
sitely illuminated manuscripts. The name of "T/«e Venerable Bede^^ 
(673-735), the most distinguished of Anglo-Saxon writers, is familiar to 
all readers of English history, and we recognize Alcidn (735-804) as the 
preceptor of Charlemagne. Alfred the Great, whom popular tra- 
dition invested with nearly every virtue, was a tireless student and 
writer. 

Truthfulness, Respect for Woman, and Hospitality were the old 
wholesome German traits. The doors of the Anglo-Saxon hall were 
closed to none, known or unknown, who appeared worthy of en- 
trance. The stranger was welcomed with the customary offer of water 
to wash his hands and feet, after which he gave up his arms and 
took his place at the family board. For two nights no questions were 
asked ; after that his host was responsible for his character. In later 
times, a strange-comer who was neither armed, nor rich, nor a clerk, 
was obliged to enter and leave his host's house by daylight, nor was he 
allowed to remain out of his own tithing more than one night at a time. 



350 



MEDIAEVAL PEOPLES. 




HOUSE OF A NOBLEMAN (12TH CENTURY). 



The Home of a prosperous 
Anglo-Saxon consisted generally 
of a large wooden building (the 
hall) surrounded by several de- 
tached cabins (the boicers) situ- 
ated in ample space, inclosed by 
an earthwork and a ditch, with 
a strong gate (the hurli-gate) for 
entrance. The hall was the 
general resort of the numerous 
household. It was hung with 
cloth or embroidered tapestries, 
and had hooks for arms, armor, 
musical instruments, etc. The 
floor was of clay, or, in palaces, 
of tile mosaic. Its chief furniture was benches, which served as seats 
by day and for beds at night. A sack of straw and a straw pillow, with 
sheet, coverlet, and goatskin, laid on a bench or on the floor, furnished 
a sufficient couch for even a royal Saxon. A stool or chair covered with a 
rug or cushion marked 
the master's place. The 
table was a long board 
placed upon trestles, 
and laid aside when 
not in use. A hole in 
the roof gave outlet to 
the clouds of smoke 
from the open fire on 
the floor. The bowers 
furnished private sit- 
ting and bed rooms for 
the ladies of the house, 
the master, and distin- 
guished guests. Here the Anglo-Saxon dames carded, spun, and wove, 
and wrought the gold embroideries that made their needlework fa- 
mous throughout Europe. The straw bed lay on a bench in a curtained 
recess, and the furniture was scanty, for in those times nothing which 
could not be easily hidden was safe from plunderers. The little win- 
dows (called eye-holes) were closed by a wooden lattice, thin horn, or 
linen, for glass windows were as yet scarcely known. A rude candle 
stuck upon a spike was used at night. — The women were fond of flowers 
and gardens. At the great feasts they passed the ale and mead, and 
distributed gifts — the spoils of victory — to the warrior-guests, l They 
1 The master was called the hJ,af-ord (loaf-owner), and the mistress hlaf-dig (loaf 




EARLY ENGLISH BENCH OR BED. 



RISE OF M0D;ERN nations— ENGLAND. 351 

were as hard mistress«?s as the old Romau matrons, and their slaves 
were sometimes scourged to death by their orders. 

Dress. — The men usually went bareheaded, with flowing beard, and 
long hair parted in the middle. A girdled tunic, loose short trousers, 
and wooden or leather shoes completed the costume. The rich wore 
ornamented silk cloaks. A girl's hair hung flowing or braided ; after 
marriage it was cut short or bound around the head, as a mark of sub- 
jection. It was a fashion to dye the hair hlue, but a lady's head-dress 
left only her face exposed ; her brilliantly dyed robes and palla were 
in form not unlike those of Roman times. 

Hunting and Hawking were the favorite out-door sports ; the in- 
door were singing, — for even a laboring-man was disgraced if he could 
not sing to his own accompaniment, — harp-playing, story-telling, and, 
above all, the old German habits, feasting and drinking. 




A DINNER-PARTY. 



The Norman introduced new modes of thought and of life. More 
cleanly and delicate in personal habits, more elaborate in tastes, more 
courtly and ceremonious in manner, fresh from a province where learn- 
ing had just revived and which was noted for its artistic architectiu'e, 
and coming to a land that for a century had been nearly barren of 
literature and whose buildings had little grace or beauty, the Nor- 
man added culture and refinement to the Anglo-Saxon strength and 
sturdiness. Daring and resolute in attack, steady in discipline, skil- 
ful in exacting submission, fond of outside splendor, proud of military 
power, and appreciative of thought and learning, it was to him, says 
Pearson, that "England owes the builder, the knight, the schoolman, 
the statesman." But it was still only the refinement of a brutal age. 
The Norman soon drifted into the gluttonous habits he had at first 
ridiculed, and the conquest was enforced so pitilessly that "it was 



distributer): hence the modern words lord and lady. The domestics and retainers 
were called loaf-eaters 
BOH-Bl 



352 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



impossible to walk the streets of any great city without meeting men 
whose eyes had been torn out, and whose feet or hands, or both, had 
been lopped off." 

A SCENE IN REAL LIFE. 

The Anglo-Saxon Noon Meat. — About three o'clock in the afternoon 
the chief, his guests, and all his household, meet in the great hall. 
While the hungry crowd, fresh from woodland and furrow, lounge 
near the fire or hang up their weapons, the slaves drag in the heavy 
board, spreading on its upper half a handsome cloth. The tableware 
consists of wooden platters and bread-baskets, bowls for the universal 
broth, drinking-horns and cups, a few steel knives shaped like our 
modern razors, and some spoons, but no forks. As soon as the board is 
laid, the benches are drawn up, and the work of demolition begins. 
Great round cakes of bread, huge junks of boiled bacon, vast rolls of 
broiled eel, cups of milk, horns of ale, wedges of cheese, lumps of salt 
butter, and smoking piles of cabbage and beans, all disappear like 
magic. Kneeling slaves offer to the lord and his honored guests long 




PRIMITIVE METHOD OF COOKING (FllOM 14TH CENTURY MS.). 

skewers or spits on which steaks of beef or venison smoke and sputter, 
ready for the hacking blade. Poultry, game, and geese are on the 
upper board ; but, except the bare bones, the crowd of loaf-eaters see 
little of these dainties. Fragments and bones strew the floor, where 
they are eagerly snapped up by hungry hounds, or lie till the close of 
the meal. Meantime a clamorous mob of beggars and cripples hang 
round the door, squabbling over the broken meat, and mingling their 
unceasing whine with the many noises of the feast, l 

After the banquet comes the revel. The drinking-glasses — with 
rounded bottoms, so that they cannot stand on the table, 2 but must be 

1 In Norman times tlie beggars grew so insolent that ushers armed with rods were 
posted outside the hall door to keep them from snatching the food from the dishes 
as the cooks carried it to the table. 

2 This characteristic of the old drinking-cups is said to have given rise to the 
modern name of tumWer. 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — ENGLAND, 



SbS 



emptied at a draught — are now laid aside for gold and silver goblets, 
which are constantly filled and refilled with mead and — in grand houses 
— with wine. Gleemen sing, and twang the viola or harp (called glee- 
wood), or blow gi'eat blasts from trumpets, horns, and pipes, or act the 




rUEPAlilNG A CANDIDATE FOli KNIGHTHOOD (FROM A 12TH CENTUliY MS.). 



buffoon with dance and jugglery. Amid it all rises the gradually increas- 
ing clamor of the guests, who, fired by incessant drinking, change their 
shouted riddles into braggart boasts, then into taunts and threats, and 
often end the night with bloodshed. (Condensed from Collier.) 



354 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[892. 



II. FRANCE, 




NORMAN SHIP (FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTUY). 

The Norsemen — Scandinavians, like the Danish invad- 
ers of England — began to ravage the coast of France dnring 
the days of Charlemagne. Under his weak successors, they 
came thick and fast, ascending the rivers in their boats, and 
burning and plundering far and near. At last, in sheer 
desperation, Charles the Simple gave-RoUo, the boldest of 
the vikings, a province since known as Normandy. RoUo 
took the requii-ed oath of feudal service, but delegated the 
ceremony of doing homage to one of his followers, who 
lifted the monarch's foot to his mouth so suddenly as to 
upset king and throne. 

Soon a wonderful change occurred. The Normans, as 
they were henceforth called, showed as much vigor in culti- 
vating their new estates as they had formerly in devastating 



oil.] 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



355 



tliem. They adopted the language, religion, and customs of 
the French, and, though they invented notliing, tliey devel- 
oped and gave new life to all they touched. Ere long 
Normandy became the faii-est province, and these wild 
Norsemen, the bravest knights, the most astute statesmen, 
and the grandest builders of France. 

TABLE OF FRENCH MEDIEVAL KINGS. 



HUGH CAPET (987-996). 

I 
ROBERT (996-1031). 

I 
IIENIIY I. (1031-60). 

I 
PHILIP I. (1060-1108). 

I 
LOUIS VI., the Fat (1108-37). 

I 
LOULS VII., the Young (1137-80). 

I 
PHILIP II., Augustus (1180-1223). 

I 
LOUIS VIII. (1223-26). 

I 



I 
LOUIS IX., Saint (1226-70). 



Charles, Count of Anjou and Provence, 
founder of House of Nai)les. 



I 
PHILIP III., the Hardy (1270-85). 



ROBERT, Count of Clermont, founder of 
House of Bourhou. 



I 
PHILIP IV., the Fair (1285-1314). 



Charles, Count of Valois, founder of 
House of Valois (p. 360). 



LOUIS X. (1314). 



I 
PHILIP V. (1316). 



CHARLES IV. (1322). 



CHARLES, Count Of Valoi-s, son of Philip III. 

I 
PHILIP VI. (1328-50). 

I 
JOHN, the Good (1350-64). 

I 
CHARLES v., the Wise (1364-80). 

I 



Isabella, m. 

EDWARD II. of 

England. 

I 

EDWARD III, 
(p. 360). 



I 
CHARLES VI., the Well-heloved (1380-1422). 

I 
CHARLES VII., the Victorious (1422-61). 

LOUIS XI. (1461-83). 

I 
CHARLES VIII. (1483-98). 



I 
LOUIS, Duke of Orleans, 
founder of House of 
Valois-Orleans. 



356 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [843-987. 

The Later Carlo vingian Kings ^ proved as power- 
less to defend and govern, as they had to preserve, the 
inheritance of their great ancestors. During the terror of 
the Norseman invasion, the people naturally turned for pro- 
tection to the neighboring lords, whose castles were their 
only refuge. Feudalism, consequently, grew apace. In the 
10th century France existed only in name. Normandy, 
Burgundy, Aquitaine, Champagne, Toulouse, were the true 
states, each with its independent government and its own 
life and history. 

The Capetian Kings. — As Charles Martel, Mayor of 
the Palace, gained power during the last days of the do- 
nothing, Merovingian kings, and his son established a new 
dynasty, so, in the decadence of the Carlovingians, Hugh 
the Great, Count of Paris, gained control, and his son, 
Hugh Capet, was crowned at Rheims (987). Thus was 
founded the third or Capetian Line. France had now a 
native French king, and its capital was Paris. 

Weakness of the Monarchy. — The Royal Domain 
(see map), however, was only a small territory along the 
Seine and Loire. Even there the king scarcely ruled his 
nobles, while the great vassals of the Crown paid him scant 
respect. The early Capets made little progress toward 
strengthening their authority. When WilUam of Nor- 
mandy won the English crown, there began a long contest 
(p. 342) that retarded the growth of France for centuries ; 
and when Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII., was 
married to Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, — so carry- 
ing her magnificent inheritance of Poitou and Aquitaine to 



1 The descendants of Charlemagne were called the Carlovingian kings. It is a 
significant fact tliat they have come down to us with the nicknames of the Good- 
natured, the Bald, the Stammerer, the Fat, the Simple, and the Idle (Brief Hist. 
France, Appendix, p. xxv.). 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



357 



liiin who soon after became Henry 11. of England, — the 
French crown was completely overshadowed. 



PARAMOUNT FEUDATORI 

at the time of the accession 

HUGH CAPET 




Growth of the Monarchy. — The history of France 
dnrmg the 13th, 14th, and 15tli centuries shows how, in 
spite of foreign foes, she absorbed the great fiefs one by 
one; how royalty triumphed over feudalism; and how fi- 
nally all became consolidated into one great monarchy. 

Philip Augustus (1180-1223) was the ablest monarch 
France had seen since Charlemagne. When a mere boy he 



358 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[13th cent. 




PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 



gained the counties of 
Vermandois, Amiens, 
and Yaloisj while by 
his marriage he secured 
L'Ai'tois. 

King John of Eng- 
land being accused of 
having murdered his 
nephew Arthur, the 
heir of Brittany, Philip) 
summoned him, as his 
vassal, to answer for the 
crime before the peers 
of France. On his non- 
appearance, John was 
adjudged to have forfeited his fiefs. War ensued, during 
which Philip captured not only Normandy, which gave him 
control of the mouth of the Seine, but also Anjou, Maine, 
and Touraine, upon the Loire. 

Certain cities were granted royal charters conferring spe- 
cial privileges ; under these, the citizens formed associations 
{communes) for mutual defense, elected magistrates, and or- 
ganized militia. "When Philip invaded Flanders, the troops 
from sixteen of the communes fought at his side, and helped 
him win the battle of Bouvines (1214) over the Flemings, 
Germans, and English. It was the fii'st great French vic- 
tory, and gave to the Crown authority, and to the people a 
thirst for military glory. 

The Albigenses, so called from the city of Albi, professed 
doctrines at variance with the Church of Rome. Pope In- 
nocent III. accordingly preached a crusade against them and 
theu' chief defender, Count Raymond of Toulouse. It was 
led by Simon de Montfort, father of the earl famous in 



1226.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



359 



English history. Ruthless adventurers flocked to his stand- 
ard from all sides, and for years this beautiful land was 
ravaged with Are and sword. Helpless Toulouse at last 
lapsed to the Crown, and so France acquired the Mediterra- 
nean coast. Instead of being shut up to the lands about 
Paris, the kingdom now touched three seas. 

Louis IX. (1226-70) is best known by his title of Saint, 
and history loves to describe him as sitting beneath the 
spreading oak at Vincennes, and dispensing justice among 
his people. By his integrity, goodness, and wisdom he 
made all classes respect his rule. He firmly repressed the 
warring barons, and estabhshed the Parliament of Paris, — 
a coui't of justice to enforce equal laws throughout the 
realm. During this strong and beneficent reign, France 
assumed the fii-st rank among the European nations. 

Philip IV. (1285-1314) was 
called The Fair, — a title which ap- 
plied to his complexion rather than 
his character, for he was crafty and 
cruel. In order to repress the nobles, 
he encouraged the communes and 
elevated the middle classes (bour- 
geoisie). His reign is memorable for 
the long and bitter contest which he 
carried on with the Pope, Boniface 
VIII. To strengthen himself, the 
king summoned for the first time 
in French history (1302) the States- 
General, or deputies of the Three Es- 
tates of the Realm, — the nobles, the 
clergy, and the commons {tiers etat). 
The French people thus obtained 
representation from their king, as 




A SOLDIEU ll-lTU CENTUUY) 



360 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[14th cent. 




the English people had, thirty-seveu years before, from their 
nobles (p. 344). The papal court was finally removed to 
Avignon, and the new Pope, Clement V., became in effect a 

vassal of France. 

The order of Templars (p. 399), 
by its wealth and pride^ excited 
Philip's greed and jealonsy. He 
accordingly seized the knights, 
and confiscated their treasures. 
The members were accused of 
blasphemous crimes, which they 
confessed under torture, and 
mai^ were burned at the stake. 
House of Valois. — Philip's 
three sons came to the throne 
in succession, but died leaving 
no male heir. The question then 
arose whether the crown could 
descend to a female. It was decided that, under the old 
Salic law of the Franks, the kingdom could not " fall to 
the distaff." During the short reign of Phihp's sons, their 
uncle Charles, Count of Valois, secured almost royal power, 
and — the third instance of the kind in French history— his 
son obtained the crown, which thus went to the Valois 
branch of the Capet family. Tliis succession was disputed 
by Edward III. of England, as son of the daughter of 
Phihp IV. So began the contest called 

The Hundred-Years' War (1328-1453).— Like the 
Peloponnesian war of ancient Greece, this long struggle was 
not one of continuous fighting, but was broken by occasional 
truces, or breathing-spells, caused by the sheer exhaustion 
of the contestants. Throughout the progress of this contest 
the fortunes of France and England were so linked that the 



A KNIGHT TEMPLAK. 



1328. J 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE 



361 



same events often form the principal features in the history 
of both, while there were many striking coincidences and 
contrasts in the condition of the two countries. 



France. 

Philip of Valois (1328-50) came to 
the tliroue ;it iiearl}' the same time as his 
English rival, tliough Franco had three 
kings (Philip, John, ami Charles) during 
Edward III.'s reign of fifty ja^ars. The 
storm of war was long gathering. Philip, 
coveting Aquitaine, excited hostilities 
upon its borders; gathered a fleet, and 
destroj'ed Southampton and Plj^mouth ; 
interrupted the English trade with the 
great manufacturing cities of Ghent and 
Bruges ; and aided the revolt of Robert 
Bruce in Scotland. A war of succession 
liaving arisen in Brittany, and the rival 
kings supporting opposite factions, 
Philip, during a truce, invited a party of 
Breton noblemen to a tournament, and 
beheaded them without trial. 



England. 

Edward III.'S reign (1327-77) was 
marked by England's most brilliant suc- 
cesses iu war. At first Edward did 
homage for his lands in France; but after- 
ward, exasperated by Philip's hostilitj', 
he asserted his claim to the French 
throne; made allies of Flanders and 
Germany ; quartered the lilies of France 
with the lions of England; assembled a 
fleet, and defeated tlu* French off Sluys 
(1340), thus winning the first great Eng- 
lish naval victory; and finally, upon 
Philip's perfidy in slaying the Breton 
knights, invaded Normandy, and ravaged 
the country to the verj^ walls of Paris. 
On his retreat, he was overtaken by an 
overwhelming French army near Cr6cy. 



Battle of Crecy (1346).— The English yeomanry had 
learned the use of the longbow (p. 342), and now formed 
Edward's main reliance. 

The French army was a motley feudal array, the knights 
despising all who fought on foot. The advance was led by a 
body of Genoese crossbow-men, who recoiled before the piti- 
less storm of English arrows. The French knights, instantly 
charging forward, trampled the helpless Italians under foot. 
In the midst of the confusion, the English poured down on 
their struggling ranks. PhOip himself barely escaped, and 
reached Amiens with only five attendants. 

The Result of this victory was the capture of Calais. Ed- 
ward, dri\'ing out the inhabitants, made it an English settle- 
ment. Henceforth, for t^to liundred years, this city afforded 
the English an open d(:>or into the heart of France. Crecy 
was a triumph of the English yeoman over the French 
knight. It inspired England with a love of conquest. 



362 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[14th cent. 



The Black Death (1347-50), a terrible plague from 
the East, now swept over Europe. Half the population of 
England perished. Travelers in Germany found cities and 
villages without a living inhabitant. At sea, ships were dis- 
covered adi'ift, their crews having all died of the pestilence. 
The mad passions of men were stayed in the presence of 
this fearful scourge. Just as it abated, Philip died, leaving 
the crown to his son. 




KING JOHN AND HIS SON AT POITIERS. 



John the Good (1350-64) was brave 
ami cliivalrous, but his raslmess aud 
gayety were in marked contrast witli Ed- 
ward's stern common sense. His char- 
acter was written all over with Crecys. 
Charles the Bad, the turbulent king of 
Navarre, was constantly rousing opposi- 
tion ; John seized him at a supper given 
by the Dauphin (the eldest son of the 
French king), and threw him into prison. 
Charles's friends appealed to Edward, 
and did liomage to him for their domains. 



While Edward was absent, the Scots, 
as usual in alliance with France (p. 345), 
invaded England; but, in the same year 
with Cr6cy, Edward's queen, Philippa, 
defeated them at Neville's Cross. The 
French war smoldered on, with fitful 
truce and plundering raid, until Edward 
espoused Charles's cause, when the con- 
test broke out anew. The Prince of 
Wales— called the Black Prince, from the 
color of his armor— carried fire and sword 
to the heart of France. 



Battle of Poitiers (1356).— John, having assembled 



1356.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS —FRANCE, 



363 



sixty thousand men, the flower of French chivah-y, inter- 
cepted the Prince returning with liis booty. It was ten years 
since Crecy, and the king hoped to retrieve its disgrace, but he 
only doubled it. The Prince's little army of eight thousand 
was posted on a hill, the sole approach being by a lane bor- 




EXrJLISH LO!iGBOW-MEN. 



dered with hedges, behind which the English archers were 
concealed. The French knights, galloping up this road, 
were smitten by the shafts of the bowmen. Thrown into 
disorder, they fell back on the main body below, when the 
Black Prince in turn charged down the hill. John sprang 
from his horse, and fought till he and his young son Philip 
were left almost alone. This brave boy stood at his fathei-'s 



3G4 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[1356. 



side, crying out, " Guard the left ! Guard the right ! " until, 
pressed on every hand, the king was forced to surrender. 

The Black Prince treated his prisoner with the courtesy 
befitting a gallant knight. He stood behind his chair at 
dinner, and, according to the fashion of the age, waited upon 
him like a servant. When they entered London, the captive 
king was mounted on a splendidly caparisoned white charger, 
wliile the conqueror rode at his side on a black pony. John 
was afterward set free by the Treaty of Bf^etigni/, agreeing 
to give up Aquitaine and pay three million crowns. One of 
his sons, however, who had been left at Calais as a hostage, 
escaped. Thereupon John, feehng bound by honor, went 
back to Ms splendid captivity. 



The Condition of France was now 
pitiable indeed. The French armj', dis- 
solved into companies called Free Lances, 
roamed the country, plundering friend 
and foe. Even the Pope at Avignon had 
to redeem himself with forty thousand 
crowns. The land In the track of the 
English armies lay waste ; the plow 
rusted in the furrow, and the houses were 
blackened ruins. The ransoms of the re- 
leased nobles were squeezed from Jacques 
Boiihomme, as the lords nicknamed the 
peasant. Beaten and tortured to reveal 
their little hoards, the serfs fled to the 
woods, or dug pits in which to hide from 
their tormentors. Brutalized by centu- 
ries of tyrannj', they at last rose as by a 
common impulse of despair and hate. 
Snatching any weapon at hand, they 
rualied to the nearest chateau, and piti- 
lessly burned and massacred. The Eng- 
lish joined with the French gentry in 
crushing this rebellion ("The Jacque- 
rie"). Meanwhile the bourgeoisie in 
Paris, sympathizing with the peasants, 
rose to check tlie license of the nobles 
and the tyranny of the Crown. The 
States-General made a stand for liberty, 
refusing the Dauphin money and men for 
the war, except with guaranties. But 
the Dauphin marclied on Paris ; Marcel, 
the liberal leader, was slain ; and this at- 



The Mack Prince was intrusted with 
the government of Aquitaine. Here he 
took the part of Don Pedro the Cruel,— a 
dethroned king of Castile,— and won him 
back his kingdom. But the thankless 
Pedro refused to pay the cost, and tlie 
Black Prince returned, ill, cross, and 
penniless. The hauglity English were 
little liked in Aquitaine, and, when the 
Prince levied a house-tax to replenish his 
treasury, tliey turned to the Dauphin,— 
now Charles V.,— who summoned the 
Prince to answer for his exactions. On 
his refusal, Charles declared the English 
possessions in France forfeited. The 
Prince rallied his ebbing strength, and, 
borne in a litter, took the field. He cap- 
tured Limoges, but sullied his fair fame 
by a massacre of the inhabitants, and was 
carried to England to die. He was buried 
in Canterbury Cathedral, where his hel- 
met, shield, gantlets, and surcoat— em- 
broidered with the arms of France and 
England— still hang above his tomb. 

Defeat of the ^nf/li«7fc.— England had 
lost the warriors who won Cr6cy and 
Poitiers ; moreover, Du Guesclin fought 
no pitched battles, but waged a far more 
dangerous guerilla warfare. " Never," 
said Edward, " was there a Frencli king 
who wore so little arnior, yet never was 
there one who gave me so much to do." 



1364.J RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



365 




i'UINCE EUWAUD'S TOMl? AT CANTERBURY. 



tempt of the people to win their rights 
was stamped out in blood. 

Charles V. (13G4-80), the Wise, 

merited the epithet. Calling to his side 
a brave Breton knight, Du Gixesclin, he 
relieved France by sending the Free 
Lances to fight against Don Pedro. 
VVlien the Aquitaiuians asked for help, 
Charles saw his opportunity: for the 
dreaded Black Prince was sick, and Ed- 
ward was growing old. So he renewed 
the contest. He did not, like Iiis father> 
rush headlong into battle, but committed 
his army to Du Guesclin,— now Constable 
of France,— with orders to let famine, 
rather than tigliting, do the work. One 
by one he got back the lost provinces, 
and the people gladly returned to their 
natural ruler. 

The Constable died while besieging a 
castle in Auvergne, and the governor, 
who had agreed to surrender on a certain 
day, laid tlie keys of the stronghold upon 
tlio hero's coffin. Cliarles survived his 
great general only a few months, but he 
liad regained nearly all his father and 
grandfather had lost. 

Charles VI. (13S0-1422), a beautiful 
boj' of twelve years, became king. He 
ascended the throne three years aftei- 
Bicliard, and liis reign coincided with 
those of three English kings (Richard II., 



And now Edward closed his long 
reign. Scarcely was the great warrior 
laid in his grave ere the English coast 
was ravaged bj'^ the French fleet; this, 
too, only twenty years from Poitiers. 
Domestic affairs were not more pros- 
perous. True, foreign war had served to 
diminish race liatred. Norman knight, 
Saxon bowman, and Welsh lancer had 
shared a common danger and a common 
glory at Cr6cy and Poitiers. But the old 
enmity now took the form of a struggle 
between the rich and the poor. The 
yoke of villeinage, which obliged the 
bondsmen to till their lord's land, liarvest 
his crops, etc., boi-e lieavily. During the 
Black Death many laborers died, and 
consequently wages rose. The landlords 
refused to pay the increase, and Parlia- 
ment passed a law punishing any who 
asked a liigher price for his work. This 
enraged the peasants. One John Ball 
went about denouncing all landlords, and 
often quoting tlie lines, 

" When Adam delved and Eve span 
"Wlio was then the gentleman ? " 

Richard II. (1377-99), a beautiful 
boy of eh'ven years, became king. Heavy 
taxation having still further incensed the 
disaffected peasants, tliousands rose in 
arms and marched upon London (1381). 



366 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[14th cent. 



Henry IV. and V.),— tlie reverse of tlie 
reign of Edward III. Both countries 
were now governed by minors, who were 
under the influence of ambitious uncles, 
anxious for their own personal power. 

Charles's guardians assembled a great 
fleet at Sluys, and for a time frightened 
England by the fear of invasion. Next 
they led an army into Flanders, and at 
Rosebecque (1382) the French knights, 
with their maUed horses and long lances, 
trampled down the Flemings by thou- 
sands. This was a triumph of feudalism 
and the aristocracy over popular libertj^ ; 
and the French cities which had revolted 
against the tyranny of the court were 
punished with terrible severity. Charles 
dismissed his guardians a year earlier 
than Richard, and, more fortunate than 
he, called to the head of affairs Du Clis- 
son, friend and successor of Du Guesclin. 

The King's Insanity. —Am attempt be- 
ing made to assassinate the Constable, 
Charles pursued the criminals into Brit- 
tany. One sultry day, as he was going 
through a forest, a crazy man darted 
before him and shouted, "Thou art be- 
trayed ! " The king, weak from illness 
and the heat, was startled into madness. 

The Dukes of burgundy and Orleans 
now governed, while for thirty years a 
maniac sat upon the throne. The death of 
Burgundy only doubled the horrors of the 
times, for his son, John the Fearless, was 
yet more unprincipled and cruel. Final- 
ly John became reconciled to his cousin 
Louis, Duke of Orleans, and, in token 
thereof, they partook of the sacrament 
together. Three days afterward Orleans 
was murdered by Burgundy's servants. 
The crazy king pardoned the murderer 
of his brother. The new Duke of Orleans 
being young, his father-in-law, the Count 
of Armagnac, became the head of the 
party which took his name. The Burgun- 
dians espoused the popular cause, and 
were friendly to England ; the Orlean- 
ists, the aristocratic side, and opposed 
England. The queen joined the Burgun- 
dians ; the Dauphin, the Armagnacs. 
Paris ran with blood. 



The boy-king met them on Smithfield 
common. Their leader, Wat Tyler, ut- 
tering a threat, Tvas slain by the mayor. 
A cry of vengeance rising from the mul- 
titude, Richard boldly rode forward, ex- 
claiming, " I am your king. I will be 
your leader." The peasants accepted his 
written guaranty of their freedom, and 
went liome quietly. But Parliament re- 
fused to ratify the king's pledges, and 
tills insurrection was trodden out by the 
nobles, as the Jacquerie had been twenty- 
three years before, in blood. 

Richard's character, besides this one 
act of courage, showed few kingly traits. 
His reign was a constant struggle with 
his uncles. Wlien he threw off their 
yoke, he ruled well for a time, but soon 
began to act the despot, and by his reck- 
lessness alienated all classes. With his 
kingdom in tliis unsettled state, he sought 
peace by marrying a child-wife only eight 
years old, Isabella, daughter of Charles 
VI. of France. This marriage was un- 
popular; the people were restless, the 
nobles unruly, and finally Richard's 
cousin, Henry of Lancaster, seized the 
crown. Ricliard was deposed, and soon 
after, as is thought, was murdered in 
prison, like his great-grandfather, Ed- 
ward II. 

Henry IV. (1399-1413), who now 
founded the House of Lancaster, was 
authorized by Parliament to rule, though 
the Earl of March, a descendant of 
Lionel (p. 340), was nearer the throne. 
As Henry owed his place to Parlia- 
ment, he had to act pretty much as 
that body pleased. The great nobles 
were none too willing to obey. The reign 
was therefore a troubled one. England 
could take no advantage of the distracted 
state of affairs in France. 

Henry V. (1413-22), to strengthen his 
weak title to the throne by victory, 
and to give the discontented nobles war 
abroad instead of leaving them to plot 
treason at home, invaded France. While 
marching from Harfleur to Calais, he met 
a vastly superior French force upon the 
plain of Agincourt. 



Battle of Agincourt (1415).— The French army was 
the flower of chivahy. The knights, resplendent in their 



1415.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 367 

armor, charged upon the English line. But their horses 
floundered in the muddy, plowed fields, while a storm of 
arrows beat down horse and rider. In the confusion the 
English advanced, driving all before them. It was Crecy 
and Poitiers over again. Ten thousand Frenchmen fell, 
four fifths of whom were of gentle blood. 

Treaty of Troyes (1420). — Henry again crossed the 
Channel, captured Rouen, and threatened Paris. In the 
face of this peril, the Dauphin and the Duke of Burgundy 
met for conference. It ended in the assassination of Bur- 
gundy. His son, Phihp the Good, at once went over to the 
EngUsh camp, taking with him the queen and the helpless 
king. He there concluded a treaty^ which declared Henry 
regent and heir of the kingdom, and gave him the hand of 
Charles's daughter, Catharine. Paris and northern France 
submitted ; but the Armagnacs, with the Dauphin, held the 
southern part. The conqueror did not live to wear the 
crown he had won. The hero of Agincourt and his father- 
in-law, Charles VI., the crazy king, died within two months 
of each other. 

[The next three reigns of the French and the English kings eoiTe- 
spond to a year. France now loses a mad monarch and gets a frivolous 
king, who finally matures into a strong ruler ; England loses a great 
warrior, and gets an infant who, when he matures into manhood, shows 
no strength, and inherits from his mother the tendency of the French 
royal family to insanity.] 



Charles VII. (1422-6I), called the 
•' Kiug of Bourges,"— from tlie city wliere 
he "vvaa crowned,— was so poor that the 
chroniclers of the time tell of the straits 
to which he was reduced for a pair of 
boots. Gay and pleasure-loving, he was 
indifferent to the agony of his native 
land. Not so with Jeanne d'Arc, a maiden 
in Domremy. As she fed her flock, she 
seemed to hear angel-voices saying that 
she was chosen to save France. Going 
to Charles, she announced that she was 



Henry VI. (I422-6I), though an in- 
fant, was proclaimed at Paris King of 
England and France, the Duke of Bed- 
ford acting as regent. In England there 
was no question as to the succession, and 
tlie claims of the Earl of March were not 
tliought of for a moment. All eyes were 
fixed on France,— the new kingdom Hen- 
ry V. had added to the English monarchy. 
There Bedford gained two great battles, 
won town after town, and finally, resolv- 
ing to carry the war into southern France, 



368 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[15th cent. 



sent of Heaven to conduct him to be 
crowned at Rlieims— then in possession 
of the English. The king reluctantly 
committed his cause into her hands. 



laid siege to Orleans. The capture of 
this city was imminent, when Charles's 
cause was saved by a maid, Jeanne 
d'Arc. 



Jeanne, wearing a consecrated sword and bearing a holy 
banner, led Charles's army into Orleans. The French sol- 
diers were inspired 
by her presence, 
while the English 
quailed with super- 
stitious fear. The 
Maid of Orleans, 
as she was now 
called, raised the 




^ siege, led Charles 
to Rheims, and 
saw him crowned. 
Then, her mission 
accomphshed, she 
begged leave to go 
back to her hum- 
ble home. But she 
had become too valuable to Charles, and he urged her to 
remain. The maid's trust, however, was gone, and the spell 
of her success failed. She was captured, thrown into a 
dungeon at Rouen, and tried as a witch. Abandoned by 
all, Jeanne was condemned and burnt at the stake (1431). 



JEAJ^NE D'ARC (.JOAN OF AliC). 



The Spirit of the maid survived her 
death. French patriotism was aroused, 
and, in spite of himself, Cliarles was 
borne to victory. First the Duke of 
Burgundy grew lukewarm in the English 
cause, and finally Armagnacs and Bur- 
gundians clasped hands in the Treaty of 
Arras (1435). Bedford died broken- 
liearted. Paris opened its gates to its 
legitimate king. 

Charles's character seemed now to 



Henry VI., as a man, had little more 
authority than as a child. His wife, Mar- 
garet, was the daughter of Ren6, Duke of 
Anjou. The English opposed this mar 
riage with a French lady. But she pos- 
sessed beauty and force of character, 
and tor years ruled in her husband's 
name. 

A formidable insurrection broke out 
(1450) under Jack Cade, who, complaining 
of bad government, the king's evil ad- 



1450.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



369 



cliaiigo. lie seized tho opixn-t unity to 
press tlio war wliilc Eiif^land was leut 
witli factions. lie called to his councils 
Kiclieniont the Constable, and the famous 
merchant Jacciues Canir; convened the 
States-Oeneral ; organized a regular 
army; recovered Normandy and (Jas- 
conj' ; and sought to heal tho wounds 
and repair tho disasters of the long war. 
End of the Hundred-Years' War.— 
Step by step, Charles pushed his con- 
quests from England. Finally Talbot, 
tlie last and bravest of the English cap- 
tains, fell on the field of Castillon (1453), 
and his cause fell with liim. It was the 
end of this long and bitter struggle. 
Soon, of all tho patrimony of William the 
Coucxueror, the dower of Eleanor, the 
conquests of Edward III. and Henry V., 
there was left to England little save the 
city of Calais. 



visers, taxes, etc;., led a peasant host 
upon London. This uprising of the peo- 
ple was put down only after bloodshed. 
The nobles, long wont to enrich them- 
selves by the plunder of France, upon tlie 
reverses in that country found England 
too small and their revenues too scant, 
and so struggled for place at home. The 
Duke of York, protector during the in- 
sauitj'- of the king, was loath to yield 
power on his recovery, and questions <9t 
the succes.sion became rife. The claims 
of the House of York were supported by 
the Earl of Warwick,— the " king-maker," 
the most powerful nobleman in England. 
The sky was black with the coming storm, 
—the Wars of the Roses. The king's 
longing for peace, his feebleness, the in- 
fluence of the queen, the rivalries of tlie 
nobles,— all weakened the English rule in 
France, and gave Charles his opportunity 



[Two years after Talbot fell, England was desolated by the Wars 
of the Roses. Edward IV. deposed Henry VI. the same year that 
Charles VII. died and Louis XI. ascended the throne ; Richard III. and 
Charles VIII. were contemporaneous (1483), but English and French 
history dui'ing the rest of the loth century was seldom interwoven.] 



Triumph of Absolutism.— Louis XL's reign marks an 
epoch in French history. He used every energy of his cruel, 
crafty mind, and scrupled at no treachery or deceit to over- 
throw feudalism and bring all classes in subjection to the 
Crown. His policy of centralization restored France to her 
former position in Europe ; and his administration, by mak- 
ing roads and canals, and encouraging manufactures and 
education, secured the internal prosperity of the country. 

The Dukedom of Burgundy, during the recent 
troubles of France, had gained strength. Comprising the 
Duchy of Burgundy and nearly aU the present kingdoms of 
Belgium and the Netherlands, it threatened to become an in- 
dependent state between France and Germany. Its duke, 
Charles the Bold, held the most splendid court in Europe. 
Restless and ambitious, he constantly pm\sued some scheme 



370 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[15th cent. 



of annexation. He 
was met, however, on 
every hand by Lonis's 
craft. He planned 
once with Edward 
IV. of England an in- 
vasion of France ; the 
English army again 
crossed the Channel, 
but Louis feasted the 
soldiers, and finally 
bribed Edward to re- 
turn home. Charles 
wanted Lorraine and 
Provence ; his rule 
in Alsace was harsh'; 
while he had offend- 
ed the Swiss. Louis 
cunningly contrived 
to unite these vari- 
ous enemies against 
Charles. The ill-fated duke was defeated at Granson, Morat, 
and N^mioj (1476-77) ; and after the last battle his body was 
found frozen in a pool of water by the roadside. Thus 
ended the dream of a Burgundian kingdom. Mary, the 
daughter of Charles, retained his lands in the Low Countries, 
but France secured the Duchy of Burgundy. 

Consolidation of the Kingdom. — Louis also added 
to his kingdom Artois, Provence, Eoussillon, Maine, Anjou, 
Franche Comte, and other extensive districts. After liis 
death, his daughter, Anne of Beaujeu, who was appointed 
regent, secured for her brother, Charles VIII., the hand of 
Anne, heiress of Brittany. The last of the gi-eat feudal 




toux^-^ 



BURGUNDY ^ 

UNDER I 

CHARLES THE BOLD. 



1491.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — FRANCE. 



371 



states between the Channel and the Pyrenees was absorbed 
by the Crown. 

As the middle ages closed, France, nnited at home, was 
ready to enter npon schemes of conquest al)road ; and the 
power of the king, instead of being spent in subduing the 
vassals of the Crown, was free to assert the French influence 
among other nations. 

EARLY FRENCH CIVILIZATION. 



The Gauls.— The native 
inhabitants of France were 
Gauls, or Celts. In earliest 
times they dressed in skins, 
dyed or tattooed their flesh, 
drank out of the skulls of 
their enemies, worshiped 
sticks, stones, trees, and 
thunder, and strangled the 
stranger wi'ecked on their 
coast. But, many centuries 
before the Romans entered 
Gaul, it had been visited by 
the Phoenicians, and after- 
ward by the Greeks, who 
left, especially along the 
coast, some traces of their 
arts. The Gauls were a 
social, turbulent, enthusi- 
astic race, less truthful and 
more vain, more imagina- 
tive and less enduring, than 
their neighbors the Ger- 
mans. Like them, they 
were large, fair-skinned, 
and yellow-haired. Noisy 
and fluent in speech, Cicero 

compared them to town-criers, while Cato was impressed with their 
tact in argument. Fond of personal display, they wore their hair 
long and flowing, and affected showy garments. Their chiefs glittered 




EAULY INHABITANTS OF FUANCE. 



372 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



with jewelry, and delighted in huge headpieces of fur and feathers, 
and in gold and silver belts, from which they hung immense sabers. 

They went to war in all this finery, though they often threw it off 
in the heat of battle. Armed with barbed, iron-headed spears, heavy 
broadswords, lances, and arrows, they rushed fiercely on their foe, 
shouting their fearful war-cry, " Off with their heads ! " Wildly elated 
by success, they were as greatly depressed by defeat. The gregarious 
instinct was strong ; and with the Hebrew tribe, the Greek phratry, the 
Roman gens, and the German family, may be classed — as, perhaps, the 
most tenacious and exclusive of all — the Celtic Clan. 

Their arts were suited to their taste for show. They made brilliant 
dyes and gayly plaided stuffs, plated metals, veneered woods, wove and 
embroidered carpets, and adorned their cloaks with gold and silver 




PARIS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



wrought ornaments. Quick to assimilate, they gradually took on all 
the culture and refinements of their Italian conquerors, imtil the round, 
wattled, clay-plastered, and straw-thatched hut of the early Gaul was 
transformed into the elegant country villa or sumptuous town residence 
of the Gallo-Roman gentleman. 

But the luxurious Gallo-Roman was forced to yield to a new race of 
conquerors, — the Franks, or Teutons ; and finally a third people — the 
Normans — left its impress upon the French character. In the combined 
result the Gallic traits were predominant, and are evident in the French- 
man of to-day, just as, across the Channel, the Teutonic influences 
have chiefly molded the English nation. 



RISE OP MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 373 



III GERMANY. 

Comparison with France. — Tlie later Carlovingian 
kings in Germany were weak, as in France ; and there, also, 
during the terrible Norseman invasions, feudalism took deep 
root. France comprised many fiefs governed by nobles 
ahnost sovereign; Germany, also, contained five separate 
peoples — Franks, Saxons, Thuringians, Bavarians, and 
Swabians — whose dukes were nearly independent in their 
reabns. But in France the Crown gradually absorbed the 
different feudatories, and so formed one powerful kingdom ; 
while thi'ough German history there runs no connecting 
thread, the states continuing jealous, disunited, and often 
hostile. The German monarch was elective, and not, ^like 
the French king, hereditary. The struggle of the Crown 
with its powerful vassals was alike in both countries, but the 
results were different. While the descendants of Capet held 
the French throne for eight centuries, the German dynasties 
were short-lived. Germany had no central capital city, like 
Paris, around which the national sentiment could grow ; and 
the emperor was a Bavarian, a Saxon, but never permanently 
and preeminently a German. The German branch of the 
Carlovingian line ended about three quarters of a centuiy 
earlier than the French. Conrad, Duke of the Franks, was 
elected by the nobles, and, being lifted on the shield, was 
hailed king (911). After a troubled reign, with singidar 
nobleness he named as his successor his chief enemy, Henry 
of Saxony, who was thereupon chosen.^ He inaugui-ated the 

Saxon Dynasty (919-1024).— The tribe conquered by 
Charlemagne only about a hundred years before now took 

1 The messenger sent to inform liim of his election found the duke catching 
finches, whence he was known as Henry the Fowler. 



374 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [IOth CENT. 

the lead m German affairs. This dynasty embraced, in gen- 
eral, the 10th century. It gave to the throne two Henrys 
and three Ottos. 

HOUSE OF SAXONY. 

HENRY I., the Fowler (919-936). 

OTTO I., tbe Great (936-973). 

1 



OTTO II. (973-983). HENRY, Duke of Bavaria. 

OTTO III. (983-1002). HENRY, Duke of Bavaria. 

Henry II. (1002-24). 



The Magyars^ a barbarous people occupying the plains of 
modern Hungary, were the di-eaded foe of the empii^e. More 
cruel than even the Norsemen, they were believed to be can- 
nibals, and to drink the blood of their enemies. They had 
repeatedly swept across Germany to the Rhine, burning 
and slaying without mercy. Henry I., and his son Otto I., 
defeated them in two great battles. After the last over- 
throw, the Hungarians (as they were now called, from taking 
the lands once held by the Huns) settled down peaceably, 
and by the year 1000 became Christian. On the adjacent 
frontier Otto formed a mihtary province, — the Oster (east) 
March, a name since changed to Austria. 

The Burghers. — Seeing that the people needed strong 
places for their protection against their barbarous enemies, 
Henry founded walled towns and built fortresses, around 
which villages soon grew up. He also ordered every ninth 
man to live in one of these hirghs, as the fortresses were 
styled. Hence arose the burgher class, afterward the great 
support of the Crown in the disputes with the nobles. 

Otto the Great (93G-973), like his father, was strong 
enough to hold the German tribes together as one nation, 
and wage successful war against the Slavs, Danes, and other 



951.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 375 

heatlien neighbors on the east and the north. Emulating 
the glory of Charlemagne, he repeatedly descended into 
Italy/ receiving at Milan the crown of the Lombards, and 
at Rome that of the CtBsars. Thus was reestablished 

Tlie Holy Roman Empire^ founded in the golden age of 
the Frankish monarch. Henceforth the kings of Germany 
claimed to be kings of Lombardy and Roman emperors, and 
thought little of their royal title beside the imperial, which 
gave them, as the head of Christendom and guardian of the 
faith of the Catholic Church, so much higher honor. But, 
in protecting their Italian interests, the emperors wasted the 
German blood and treasure that should have been devoted 
to compacting their home authority. They were often ab- 
sent for years, and meanwhile the dukes, margraves, and 
counts became almost sovereign princes. Thus Germany, 
instead of growing into a united nation, like other European 
peoples, remained a group of almost independent states. 

The Franconian^ Dynasty (1024-1125) embraced, in 
general, the 11th centur}^ It gave to the throne Conrad IL, 
and Renrij IIL, Henri/ IV., and Henry V. 

HOUSE OF FRANCONIA. 

Conrad ii. (1024-39). 

HENRY III. (1039-56). 

IIENUY IV. (1056-1106). 

I 



HENUY v. (1106-25). AGNF.S, m. 

FREDERICK OF HOllEXSTAUFEN. 



^ There is a gleam of romance connected with Otto'.s first descent into Italy. Lo- 
tliaire, king of that distracted country, liad been poisoned bj' Berengar, a brutal 
prince, wlio, in order to secure the throne of Italj', wished to marry lii.s son to Adel- 
heid, Lothaire's young and beautiful widow. Slie spurned the revolting alliance, 
and, escaping from the loathsome prison where she was confined, appealed to Otto, 
who defeated Berengar, and afterward married Adelheid. 

2 The Eastern or Teutonic Francia (Frankland) is termed Francouia, to distin- 
guish it from Western Francia, or France (p. 335). 



876 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [IIth CENT. 

Conrad II. (1024-39) annexed to the empii-e the king- 
dom of Bm-gundy, thus governing three of the fom^ great 
kingdoms of Charlemagne (map, p. 370). 

Henry III. (1039-56) elevated the empire to its glory, 
established order, and sought to enforce among the warring 
barons the Truce of God.^ He was early called to Italy, 
where three candidates claimed the papacy. Henry deposed 
them all, placing fom* Germans successively in the papal 
chair. 

Henry IV. (1056-1106) was only six years old at his 
father's death. Never taught to govern himself or others, 
he grew up to be fickle, violent, and extravagant. When, at 
the age of fifteen, he became king, his court was a scan- 
dal to Germany. Reckless companions gathered about the 
youthful monarch. Ecclesiastical offices were openly sold. 
Women were to be seen blazing in jewels taken from the 
robes of the priests. His misrule provoked the fierce Saxons 
to revolt, and he subdued the insurrection only with great 
difficulty. Then came the peril of his reign. 

Hildehrand, the son of a poor carpenter, the monk of 
Cluny, the confidential adviser of five popes, now received 
the tiara as Pope Gregory VII. Saint-like in his purity of 
life, iron- willed, energetic, eloquent, he was resolved to re- 
form the Church, and make it supreme. He declared that, 
having apostolic preeminence over kings, he could give and 
withhold crowns at pleasure ; that ecclesiastic offices should 
not be sold ; that no prince should hold a priestly office ; 
that no priest should marry ; and that the Pope alone had 
the right to appoint bishops and invest them with the ring 
and staff, — the emblems of office. 

War of the Tnvestittire. — Henry was unwilling to resign 

1 This ordered the sword to be sheathed eacli week between Wednesday evening 
and Monday morning, on pain of excommunication (Brief Hist. France, p. 42). 



1077.] RISE OF MODERN N A T I N S — G E R M A N Y. 377 

the right of investiture and demanded that the Pope degrade 
those prelates wlio had favored the rebels. Gregory on the 
other hand called upon the king to answer to charges 
brought against him by his subjects. Henry closed his 
eyes to the magnitude of the power which the papacy had 
acquired, and summoned at Worms a synod which deposed 
the Pope ; in reply, the Pope excommunicated Henry, and re- 
leased his subjects from their allegiance. Now Henry reaped 
the fruit of his folly and tyranny. The German princes, 
glad of a chance to humble him, threatened to elect a new 
king. Cowed by this general defection, Henry resolved to 
throw himself at the feet of the Pope. He accordingly crossed 
the Alps, not, as his predecessors had done, at the head of 
a mighty army, but as a supj^liant, with his faithful wife. 
Bertha, carrying his infant son. Eeaching Canossa, the 
king, barefooted, bareheaded, and clad in penitent^s garb, 
was kept standing in the snow at the castle gate for three 
days before he was allowed to enter. Then, after yielding 
all to Gregory, he received the kiss of peace. 

But this did not allay the strife in Germany. The princes 
elected Rudolph of Swabia as king, and Gregory finally 
recognized the rival monarch. Henry now pushed on the 
war with vigor, slew Rudolph in battle, invaded Italy, and 
appointed a new Pope. Gregory, forced to take refuge 
among the Normans, died not long after at Salerno. His 
last words were, "I have loved righteousness and hated 
iniquity ; therefore I die in exile." Hildebrand's successor, 
however, pursued his plans. The tendency of the best minds 
in Europe was toward papal supremacy. Henry's heart was 
softened by misfortune, and experience taught him wisdom ; 
but he could not regain liis power, and he died at last, de- 
throned by his unnatural son. 

Henry V. (1106-25), on taking the crown, deserted the 



1122.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 379 

papal party, and stoutly held his father^s position. He 
invaded Italy, and forced Pope Paschal II. to crown him 
emperor. But no sooner had Henry recrossed the Alps, 
than the Pope retracted the concessions, and excommuni- 
cated him. 

The Concordat of Worms (1122^ finally settled the difficulty 
by a compromise, the investiture being granted to the Pope, 
and homage for land to the emperor. The war had lasted 
nearly half a century. Though Heniy was now at peace 
with the Church, the struggle with the rebelhous nobles 
went on through his hfe. With him ended the Franconian 
line. 

Lothaire II. of Saxony, elected king by the princes, 
was crowned emperor by the Pope ; but, after a brief and 
stormy reign, the crown passed to Conrad III. of Swabia, 
who founded 

The Hohenstaufen Line (1138-1254).— He struggled 
long with the Saxons and others who opposed his rule. 
During the siege of Weinsberg,i the rebels raised the war- 
cry of Welf, — the name of their leader ; and Conrad's army, 
that of Waihlingen, — the birthplace of Frederick of Swabia, 
the king's brother. These cries, corrupted by the Italians 
into Giielf and GJiihelJine, were afterward applied to the 
adherents of the Pope and the emperor respectively, and 
for centuries resounded from the Mediterranean to the 
North Sea. Conrad, first of the German emperors, joined 
the Crusaders (p. 400). He died as he was preparing to 
visit Italy to be crowTied emperor. 

1 Conrad, upon the surrender of this city, resolved to destroy it, but consented 
that the women might take with them such valuables as they could carry on their 
shoulders. When tlie gates were tlirown open, to Conrad's astonishment there 
a])peared a long line of women, each staggering beneath the weight of her husband 
or nearest relative. The Swabian king was so affected by this touching scene that 
he spared the city. 



380 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [1152. 



HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. 



I I 

CONRAD III. (1138-52). FREDERICK OF SWABIA. 

FREDERICK BARBAROSSA (1152-90). 

HENRY VI. (1190-97). PHILIP (1197-1208). 

FREDRICK II. (1215-50). ^^(j^jy^rgirs'^s 

CONrId IV. (1250-54). ^1209-15).] 

CONRADIN (Little Conrad). 



Frederick Barbarossa (the Red Beard), Conrad III.'s 
nephew, was nnanimously chosen king. He proved a 
worthy successor of Charlemagne and Otto I., and his reign 
was one of the most brilliant in the annals of the empire. 
He wielded the royal power with terrible force, established 
order, controlled the dukes, and punished the robber-knights. 
The phantom of the empire, however, allured him into 
Italy. Five times this "German Sennacherib" crossed the 
Alps with magnificent armies, to be wasted by pestilence 
and the sword. He was crowned emperor, but only after 
he had consented to hold the Pope's stirrup. 

The Italian cities^ grown rich and powerful during the 
Crusades, were jealous of their independent rights. Fre- 
quent wars broke out among them, as in olden Greece, and 
the weaker cities, oppressed by the stronger, appealed to the 
emperor. The strife of Guelf and Ghibelline waxed hot. 
Quarrels arose with the Holy See. Milan was taken by 
Frederick and razed to the ground. The Lombard cities 
leagued against Frederick. Finally, after years of strife, the 
emperor, beaten on the decisive field of Legnano (1176), 
made peace, submitted to the demands of the Pope, and 
granted the Italian cities their municipal rights. After 
this, contentment and peace marked the evening of Fred- 



1176.] RISE OP MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 381 

erick's eventful life. He perished in the Third Crusade^ 
(p. 400). 

Henry VI. (1190-97),2 the Cruel, hastened to Italy, and 
was crowned emperor at Rome ; thence he invaded Naples 
and Sicily, — the inheritance of his wife, — where his rapacity 
recalled the days of the Goths and Vandals. His name is 
associated with Richard the Lion-hearted (p. 401). 

Frederick II. (1215-50) had been chosen King of the 
Romans, but he was a child at his father's death, and was 
quite overlooked in Germany, where rival kings were elected. 
When he became of age, the Pope called on the German 
princes to elect him their monarch. He was accordingly 
crowned king at Aix-la-Chapelle, and emperor at Rome. 
His genius and learning made him " The Wonder of the 
World." He spoke in six languages, was versed in natural 
history and philosophy, and skiUed in all knightly accom- 
plishments. More Italian than Teuton, he visited Germany 
only once during thirty years, content to surround himself 
with poets, artists, and sages, in his brilliant Sicilian court. 
But he became involved in quarrels with one pope after 
another 5 he was twice excommunicated ; again the Italian 
cities raised the war-cry of Guelf and Ghibelhne, and he 
died in the midst of the long struggle (p. 395). 

The " Great Interregnum..''— Cojir ad IV. (1250-54) 
was the last Hohenstaufen king of Germany. Ah^eady 
rival monarchs had been chosen, and after him, for nearly 

1 One day while marching through Sj'ria, false news was hiought him of the 
(ieath of his son. Tears flowed down his beard, now no longer red, but wliite. Sud- 
denly springing up, he shouted, " My sou is dead, but Christ still lives ! Forward ! " 
—Tradition says that the Red Beard sleeps with his knights in a cavern of the Kyff- 
liiiuser, near the ilartz, and when " the ravens shall cease to hover about the moun- 
tain, and the pear tree shall blossom in the vallej'," then he shall descend at the 
head of his Crusaders, bringing back to Germany the golden age of peace and unity. 
The substance of this beautiful dream has been realized in our own day. 

2 Henry had already been chosen successor and crowned " King of the Romans," 
—a title thenceforth borne by the heir apparent during au emperor's lifetime. 



382 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[13th cent. 



twenty years, the empire had no recognized head. So low 
did German patriotism sink that at one time the crown 
was offered to the highest bidder. Order was now unknown 
outside of city walls. Often during these dark days did the 
common people think of Barbarossa, and sigh for the time 
when he should awake from his long sleep and bring back 
quiet and safety. At last, even the selfish barons became 




^^^^B 



THE ROBBER-KNIGHTS. 



convinced that Germany could not do without a govern- 
ment. The leading princes, who had usurped the right of 
choosing the king, and were hence called Electors (p. 385), 
selected Count Rudolf of Hapshurg (1273-91). A brave, 
noble-hearted man, he sought to restore order, punish the 
robber-knights, and abolish private wars. 

State of Germany.— The independence of the princes had now- 
reached its height. The Hohenstauf ens, vainly grasping after power in 
Italy, had neglected their Germaji interests, andTrederick II. , for the 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 383 

sake of peace, even confirmed the princes in the right they had nsurped. 
There were in Germany over sixty free cities, one hundred dukes, 
counts, etc., and one hundred and sixteen spiritual rulers, — in all, more 
than two hundred and seventy-six separate powers. In proof of the 
arrogance of the nobles, it is said that a certain knight, receiving a 
visit from Barbarossa, remained seated in the emperor's presence, say- 
ing that he held his lands in fee of the sun. 

Each nobleman claimed the right of waging war, and, in the little 
district about his castle, was a law to himself. When at peace with 
the neighboring lords, he spent his time in the chase, — tramping over 
the crops, and scouring through the woods, with his retainers and 
dogs. In war he watched for his foes, or attacked some merchant-train 
going to or from a city with which he was at feud. Robber-knights 
sallied out from their mountain fastnesses upon the peaceful traveler, 
and, escaping with their booty to their strongholds, bade defiance to 
the feeble power of the law. 

The Peasants, more than others, needed a central power, able to 
keep the public peace and enforce justice. They were still feudal 
tenants. There was no one to hear their complaints or redress their 
ATongs. The lords, encroaching more and more upon their ancient 
privilegvis, had robbed them of their common rights over the pastures, 
the wild game, and the fish in the streams, until the peasants had 
become almost slaves. In fine weather they were forced to work for 
their lord, while their own little crops were to be cared for on rainy 
days. Even during their holidays they were required to perform 
various services for the people at the castle. Time and again they 
rose to arms, and, elevating the hundschuh, or peasant's clog, struck 
for liberty. But the nobles and knightly orders, combining, always 
crushed the insurrection with terrible ferocity. 

The Feme was a tribunal of justice that sprang up in Westphalia 
from the old Courts of Counts that Chartemagne established. During 
these troublous times it attained gi-eat power and spread far and wide, 
appeals being made to it from all parts of Germany. Its proceedings 
were secret, and the deliberations were often held in desolate places, 
or in some ancient seat of justice, as the famous Linden-tree at Dort- 
mund. Its death-sentence was mysteriously executed ; only the dagger 
with the mark of the Feme, found plunged into the body, told how 
avenging justice had overtaken the criminal. 

The Growth of the Cities was a characteristic of the middle 
ages. They formed a powerful restraint upon the feudal lords. Each 
city was a little free state, fortified and provisioned for a siege. Behind 
its walls the old German love of liberty flourished, and views of life 
were cherished quite different from those of the castle and the court. 
The petty quarrels of the barons disturbed the public peace, injured 



384 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [13th CENT. 

trade, and forced the mereliants to guard their convoys of goods. The 
vassals, constantly ©scaping from the lords and taking refuge in the 
towns, were a continual som-ce of difference. There was, therefore, 
almost perpetual war between the cities and the nobles. The cities, 
compelled to ally themselves for mutual protection, became more and 
more a power in the land. The liheuish League comprised seventy 
towns, and the ruins of the robber-knights' fastnesses destroyed by its 
forces still exist along the Rhine, picturesque memorials of those law- 
less times. The Hanseatic League at one period numbered over eighty 
cities, had its own fleets and armies, and was respected by foreign 
kings. The emperors, finding in the strength of the cities a bulwark 
against the bishops and the princes, constantly extended the municipal 
rights and pri\aleges. The free cities had the emperor for their lord, 
were released from other feudal obligations, and made their own laws, 
subject only to his approval. Every citizen was a freeman, bore arms, 
and was eligible to knighthood. Manufactures and trade throve in the 
favoring air of freedom, and merchant-princes became the equals of 
hereditary nobles. 

[From the middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century, 
Germany was unfruitful of great men or great events. Its history tor 
two hundred and fifty years presents only a few points of interest. 
The high dignity of the empire ended with the Hohenstauf ens. Hence- 
forth its strongest monarchs were little more than German kings. 
They rarely ventm-ed to cross the Alps, and, when they did so, pro- 
duced only a transient effect ; in time they assumed the title of em- 
peror without the coronation by the Pope. Italy fell away from the 
imperial control, and Burgundy dropped into the outstretched hands of 
France.] 

Hapsburg or Austrian Line.^ — Eiidolf renounced 
the rights of the Hohenstauf ens in Italy, declaring that Rome 
was like a lion's den, to which the tracks of many animals 
led, but from which none retui-ned. Having acquii-ed Aus- 
tria, St}Tia, and Carniola, he conferred these provinces on 
his son, Albert I. (1298-1308), thus laying the foundation of 
the futui-e greatness of the House of Hapsburg, or Austria. 
From the tune of Albert 11. (1438-39) until Napoleon broke 
up the empire (p. 563), the electors chose as emperors, with 

1 The House of Hapsburg was so named from Rudolf's castle upon the banks of 
the Aar in Switzerland. 



1414.] RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — GERMANY. 385 

a single exception, a member of this family, and generally 
its head. Thus Austria gave its strength to the empu-e, 
and, in turn, tlie empir(i gave its dignity to the Hapsburgs. 
All)ert's father-in-law, Sigismmid (1410-37), before he was 
raised to the imperial throne, was King of Hungary, and 
then began the close connection of Austria with that court. 

The Golden BuU^ (135G) was a charter granted by 
Charles IV., fixing the electors, and the mode of choosing 
the emperors. It confirmed the custom of ha\dng seven 
electors, — four temporal and three spiritual lords. The elec- 
tion was to take place at Frankfort, and the coronation at 
Aix-la-Chapelle. The electors were granted sovereign rights 
within their territories, their persons declared sacred, and 
appeals to the emperor denied, save when justice was refused. 
This decree diminished the confusion wdiich had hitherto 
attended the election of kings, but it made the electors the 
most powerful persons in the empire, stimulated other 
princes to acquire similar privileges, and perpetuated the 
fatal divisions of Germany. 

The first university of Germany was founded at Prague by 
Charles IV. ; it became so famous as soon to number seven 
thousand students. 

The Council of Constance (1414) was called by Sigis- 
mund, foUo^\dng the example of Constantine in convening 
the famous Council of Nice (p. 265). This was the era of 
the " G^reat Schism," and the object of the council was to 
settle the dispute between three different claimants for the 
l)apal chair. Nearly five thousand clergymen, including car- 
dinals and bishops, Anth a vast concourse of the chief vassals 
of the CroA\ai, learned men, knights, and ambassadors from 
the Christian powers, were present. A new Pope, Martin V., 
was chosen, and he took his seat as successor of Gregory XII. 

1 So named from the kuob of {^oUl (bulla aurea) which iuclosed the seal. 



386 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [15th CENT. 

John Kuss, rector of the university at Prague, who had 
adopted the views of WycHffe, the Enghsh reformer, and 
attacked certain doctrines of the Church, was summoned to 
appear before the council. Under a safe-conduct from the 
emperor, Huss came ; but he was tried, convicted of heresy, 
and bu.rned at the stake (1415).^ His ashes were thrown 
into the Rhine to prevent his followers from gathering 
them. The next year, Jerome of Prague, who brought 
Wycliffe's writings to the university, suffered death in the 
same place. 

Hussite War (1419-35). — The Bohemians, roused to 
fuiy by the death of their favorite teacher and by subse- 
quent persecutions, flew to arms. Under Ziska, " the One- 
eyed," they learned to strike unerringly with their farmers' 
flails, to wield heavy iron maces, and to shelter themselves 
behind wagons bound with chains. The emperor's troops 
fled before them, often without a blow. It was sixteen 
years before Bohemia was subdued. 

House of HohenzoUern. — Sigismund, being in want 
of money, sold Brandenburg and its electoral dignity for 
four hundred thousand gold florins, to Frederick, Count of 
HohenzoUern (1415). The new elector vigorously ruled 
his possession, with gunpowder battered down the " castle 
walls, fourteen feet thick," of the robber-knights, and re- 
stored order and quiet. His descendants to-day occupy the 
throne of Prussia. 

The Diet of Worms (1495), summoned by Maximilian 

1 When addressing the council, Sigismund said, " Date operam, ut ilia nefanda 
schisma eradicetur." Upon a cardinal remarking to him that "schisma" is of the 
neuter gender, he replied, "I am king of the Romans and above grammar !" -When 
tlie executioner was about to light the pile from behind, Jerome called out, " Set in 
front; had I dreaded fire I should not have been here." Sylvius (afterward Pope 
Pius II.), in his History of Bohemia, says, " Both Huss and Jerome made haste to 
the fire as if they were invited to a feast ; when they began to burn, they sang a 
hymn, and scarcely could the flames and the crackling of the lire stop their 
singing." 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — SWITZERLAND. 387 

(1493-1519), decreed a Perpetual Peace, abolished the right 
of private war, and established the Lnpenal Chamber of 
Justice, with power to declare the ban of the empire. In 
order to carry out the decisions of this body, Maximilian 
divided the empire into Ten Circles, each having its tribunal 
for settling disputes. He also founded the Aiilic Council, or 
court of appeal from the lower com-ts in Germany. The old 
Roman law rapidly came into use in these tribunals. There 
was now a promise of order in this distracted country. 

Maximilian's Marriage with Mary of Burgundy, the 
beautifid daughter of Charles the Bold (p. 370), added her 
rich dower to the House of Austria. 

The End of the Middle Ages was marked by the 
reign of Maximilian, and this monarch is known in Ger- 
man history as the "Last of the Knights." Gunpowder 
had changed the character of war, printing was invented, 
feudal forms and forces were dying out, and Christopher 
Colimibus had discovered America. 

IV. SWITZER LAN D. 

Origin. — The confederation of the three Forest Can- 
tons — Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden — clustered about the 
beautiful lake of Lucerne was the germ of Switzerland. 
They were German lands owing allegiance to the emperor, 
and theii^ league for mutual defense was like that of other 
districts and cities of the empire. Rudolf, himself a Swiss 
count, had estates in these cantons, and, being popular with 
his former neighbors, was chosen as their protector; but 
the tyranny of his son Albert, the Duke of Austria, when he 
became emperor, roused these brave mountaineers to assert 
their independence.^ Three great battles mark the succes- 
sive stages in their struggle for liberty. 

1 Odo November night in 1307, a little company met under the open sky and 



388 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

Battle of Morgarten (1315). — Albert was assassi- 
nated while marching to crush the rising, but his successor, 
Leopold, Duke of Austria, invaded Switzerland with an army 
of fifteen thousand men, ostentatiously bearing ropes for 
hanging the chief rebels. The Swiss, only thirteen hundred 
in all, after a day of fasting and prayer, took post in the 
defile of Morgarten, — the Thermopylae of Switzerland. 
Fifty outlaws, denied the privilege of fighting with the 
main body, were stationed on a cliff overlooking the en- 
trance. When the heavy-armed cavahy were well in the 
pass, the band of exiles suddenly let fall an avalanche of 
stones and timber. This throwing the Austrian column 
into confusion, the Swiss rushed down with their halberts 
and ii-on-shod clubs. The flower of the Austrian chivalry 
fell on that ill-fated day. Leopold himseK escaped only by 
the aid of a peasant, who led him through by-paths over 
the mountain. 

Battle of Sempach (1386). — About seventy years 
had passed, when Leopold — nephew of him who fought at 
Morgarten — sought to subdue the League. He found the 
patriots posted near the little lake of Sempach. The Aus- 
trian knights, dismounting, formed a solid body clad in armor 
from head to foot, and with long projecting spears. The 

solemnlj' swore to defend their liberty. This was the birthday of Swiss independ- 
ence. The next New Year's was fixed for the uprising. Meanwhile Gessler, an Aus- 
trian governor, set up a hat in the market place of Altdorf, and commanded all to bow 
to it in homage. Tradition saj^s that William Tell, passing by with his little son, re- 
fused tliis obeisance. Brought before Gessler, he was doomed to die unless he could 
shoot an arrow through an apple placed on his boy's head. Tell pierced the apple, 
but the tyrant, noticing a second arrow concealed In his belt, asked its purpose. 
"For thee," was the reply, "if the first had struck my son." Enraged, Gessler 
ordered him to a prison upon the opposite shore of the lake. While crossing, a storm 
arose, and in the extremity of the danger Gessler unloosed Tell, hoping by his skill to 
reacli land. As they neared the rocky shore, Tell leaped out. and, hiding in the glen, 
shot Gessler as he passed.— This romantic story is now believed by critics to be a 
mere fiction ; but the tradition lingers in tlie minds of the people, and every traveler 
in Switzerland is still shown the chapel that stands upon the rock to which the hero 
leaped from Gessler's boat. 



RISE OF MODERN NATIONS — SWITZERLAND. 389 

Swiss, iirst dropping ou their kuees aud offering prayer, 
advanced to the charge. But the foroist of spears resisted 
every attack. Sixty of their little band had fallen, and not 
one of the enemy had received a wound. At this crisis, 
Arnold Von Winkelried rushed forward, shouting, " I will 
open a way; take care of my wife and children." Then, 
suddenly gathering in his arms as many spears as he could 
reach, he buried them in his bosom and bore them to the 
ground. The wall of steel was broken. His comrades 
rushed over his body to victory. 

Another triumph at Keif els, two years later, and the Swiss 
confederates were left undisturbed for many years. 

Growth, of the Confederacy. — Lucerne, Berne, and 
other cities early joined the League ; in the middle of 
the 14th century it comprised the so-called Uight Ancient 
Cantons. The victory over Charles the Bold greatly 
strengthened the Swiss confederation. Swiss soldiers were 
henceforth in demand, and thousands left the homely fare 
and honest simplicity of their native land to enlist as mer- 
cenaries under the banners of neighboring princes. 

At the end of the 15th century, Maximilian sought to 
restore the imperial authority over the Swiss, but failed, and 
by an honorable peace practically acknowledged their inde 
pendence, though it was not formally granted until the 
Treaty of Westphalia (p. 485).i 

1 It is curious that thougli tlio, names Swiss and Switzerland, derived from that 
of the chief canton, early came into use, they were not formally adopted until the 
present century. 



B G H-2? 



390 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Italy in the 10th Century, after the fall of the Car- 
lovmgians, was a scene of frightful disorder. A crowd of 
petty sovereignties sprang up, and the rival dukes disputed 
for their titles with dagger and poison. When Otto the 
Great restored the Holy Roman Empire, the fortunes of 
Italy became blended with those of Germany. During the 
long contest between the Pope and the emperor, the feudal 
lords and the cities sided with either as best suited their 
interest. For centuries the strife of GueK and Ghibelline 
convulsed the peninsula. 

Power of the Popes. — We have seen how, upon the 
ruins of Pagan Rome, the Church founded a new empire. 
Many causes combined to extend her power. Amid the 
gloom of the dark ages, the lights of learning and piety 
burned brightly within monastery walls. The convents and 
theii' lands were isles of peace in a sea of violence and wrong. 
The monks of St. Benedict divided their time among acts 
of devotion, copying of manuscripts, and tilling of land. 
Education was almost forgotten by the laity. The clergy 
alone could read and write, as well as use the Latin lan- 
guage, — then the general medium of communication among 
different nations. Priests were therefore the teachers, secre- 
taries, and ambassadors of kings. 

The Church afforded a refuge to the oppressed. None 
was too lowly for her sympathy, while the humblest man 
in her ranks could rise to the highest office of trust and 
honor. When f eudahsm was triumphant, and kings were too 
weak and men too ignorant to oppose it, hers was the only 
power that could restrain the fierce baron, and enforce the 
Truce of God. With the gift of Pepin, the Pope became a 



1000.] ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 391 

political prince, and as such continued to extend his Italian 
possessions. 

The 11th century brought a great increase of papal power, 
A current belief (founded on Rev. xx. 1-7) that the world 
would come to an end in the year 1000 checked the ravages 
of war. Lands and money were freely bestowed upon the 
Church, and when the time passed and the world still stood, 
men's hearts, touched even through their coats of mail, 
softened with gratitude, and king and lord vied in erecting 
jnagnificent cathedi^als, whose ruins are to-day the admira- 
tion of the world. The Crusades also gi*eatly strengthened 
the power of the Pope (p. 397). 

For centuries a command from Rome was obeyed through- 
out Christendom. When Pepin wished to depose the do- 
nothing sovereign, he appealed to Rome for permission; 
w^hen Charlemagne was to take the title of emperor, it 
was the Pope who placed the crown upon his head ; when 
William the Conqueror desired to invade England, he first 
secured permission from the Pope ; when Henry II. longed 
for Ireland, Adrian IV. granted it to him on the gi'ound 
that all islands belonged to the Holy See; and so late 
even as 1493, Pope Alexander VI. divided between the 
Spanish and the Portuguese then- discoveries in the New 
World. 

The papal power, however, reached its zenith in the begin- 
ning of the 13th century, under Innocent HI. He acquu-ed 
independent sovereignty in Italy, gave to Peter of Aragon 
his kingdom as a fief, compelled Philip Augustus of France 
to receive back the wife he had put away, crushed the 
Albigenses, and imposed a tribute upon John of England. 
He claimed to be an earthly king of kings, and the papal 
thunder, enjoining peace and punishing public and private 
offenses, rolled over every nation in Europe. 



392 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

The decline of the papal power was made evident in the 
14th century by the residence of the popes in France, known 
in church history as the Babylonish captivity (1305-77). 
Thus the contest between Boniface VIII. and Philip IV. 
ended very differently from the war of investitui-e between 
Henry IV. and Gregory VII. 

The 15th century is noted for its ecclesiastical councils. 
To these some of the monarchs appealed from the decisions 
of the Holy See. The Councils of Constance and Basle 
sought to change the government of the Church from an 
absolute to a hmited sovereignty. Charles VII. of France, 
by a national assembly, adopted several decrees of the latter 
council; and the Pragmatic Sanction, as this was termed, 
rendered the Galilean Church more independent and na- 
tional. The tendency to resist the papal authority was 
now increasing rapidly throughout Europe. The weakness 
caused by the Great Schism invited opposition, and Rome 
was forced to confine its political action mainly to Itahan 
affairs. 

Italian Cities. — With the decline of the imperial rule in 
Italy, many of its cities, like those of olden Greece, became 
free, strong, and powerful. Four especially — Venice, Flor- 
ence, Pisa, and Genoa — attained great importance. The 
Italian ships brought thither the rich products of the East, 
and her merchants, called Lombards,^ distributed them 
over Europe. The trading princes of Genoa and Venice 
controlled the money of the world, and became the first 
bankers, — the bank of Venice dating from 1171. The 
progress of commerce and manufacture made these inde- 
pendent cities, in the elegance of their buildings and the 

1 The street in Londou where these merchants settled is still known as Lom- 
bard Street. The three balls— the sign of a pawnbroker's shop-are the arms 
of Lombardy, having been assumed when the Lombards were the money-lenders of 
Europe. 



ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



extent of their wealth, the rivals of any nation of their time, 
and their alliance was ea- 
gerly sought by the most 
powerful kings. 

Venice was founded in 
the 5th century by refu- 
gees from Attila's invasion 




of Italy (p. 269) ; her ruler was a 
Doge 5 her patron saint was St. 
Mark. The Queen of the Adriatic 
early became a gi-eat naval power, 
rendered valuable assistance in 
transporting the Crusaders, carried 
on sanguinary wars with Genoa, and finally reigned su- 
preme in the MediteiTanean. 



394 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

In the 14th and 15th centimes the government grew into 
an oppressive oligarchy, the secret Council of Ten, Uke the 
Spartan Ephors, controlling the Doge and holding the 
threads of life and death. The dagger, the poisoned ring, 
the close gondola, the deep silent canal, the Bridge of Sighs, 
and the secret cell beyond, — all linger in the mysterious his- 
tory of the time. But the golden period of her commerce 
passed when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good 
Hope, and discovered a new route to the Indies. 

Florence, originally a colony of Roman soldiers, in the 
13th century became one of the chief cities of Italy. While 
"'i^enice, like Sparta of old, had an aristocratic government, 
that of Florence resembled democratic Athens. The Flo?'- 
entine jewelers, goldsmiths, and bankers brought the city 
renown and wealth. The citizens were curiously organized 
into companies or guilds of the different trades and profes- 
sions, with consuls, banners, and rules of government. In 
case of any disturbance, the members rallied about their 
respective standards. 

The Family of the Medici (med'e-che), during the 15th 
century, obtained control in the state, though without 
changing the form of government. Cosmo de' Medici (the 
" Father of his Country"), his grandson Lorenzo the Mag- 
nificent, and Giovanni (better known as Pope Leo X.^), 
patronized literary men and artists, encouraged the copjdng 
of manuscripts, and revived a knowledge of the treasures of 



1 Leo X., second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was born, 1475; created car- 
dinal, 1488; and elected Pope, 1513. He died in 1521. Leo was a munificent patron 
of the arts, and so great were the obligations of men of genius to his tact and gener- 
osity, tliat this brilliant period, one of the brightest in the annals of Europe, is 
known as The Medicean Era. "We may confidently assert," says an eminent his- 
torian, "that all that is most beautiful in the architecture, sculpture, or painting of 
modern art falls within this brief period." Music also, of which Leo was a passion- 
ate lover, was now given more scientific cultivation; classical study was revived; 
and the first dramas written in the Italian language were produced in the august 
papal presence. 



ITALY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 395 

Grecian architecture, sculpture, poetry, and philosophy. 
The study of the antique masterpieces led to the founding 
of a new school of art, known as the Italian Renaissance. 
In this brilliant period of Florentine history flourished 
Michael Angelo, — poet, sculptor, and painter ; the renowned 
artists Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci ; and the famous 
reformer Savonarola, afterward burned for heresy. 

The Two Sicilies. — After Charlemagne's time the 
Arabs conquered Sicily. In the 11th century — that era of 
Norman adventure — the Normans invaded southern Italy, 
and seized the lands held by the Saracens and the Eastern 
emperor. They finally subdued Naples and Sicily, and 
founded the kingdom of the Two Sicilies: so a "French- 
speaking king ruled over Arabic-speaking Mohammedans 
and Greek-speaking Cliristians." 

The crown was transferred to the Hohenstaufens by the 
marriage of its heiress, Constance, to the emperor Henry VI. 
The poUshed court of Frederick II. made Naples the center 
of ci\dlization and culture ; but the youthful Conradin — the 
last heu' of the Hohenstaufens — perished on the scaffold ir. 
its market place, in full sight of the beautiful inheritance h(5 
had lost so untimely. 

The kingdom then feU to the papal nominee, Charles of 
Anjou, brother of St. Louis of France. The Sicilians, how- 
ever, hated the French for their tyi'anny ; and one day a 
soldier, by insulting a bride in the cathedi-al, enraged the 
populace to a revolt. As the vesper-bell rang on Easter 
Monday, 1282 (a date known as that of the Sicilian Vespers), 
the ever-ready Italian stiletto leaped from its sheath ; scarcely 
a Frenchman survived the liorri])le massacre that foUow^ed. 
The Two Sicilies afterward remained separate until (1435) 
they were united under Alfonso V. of Aragon. 

Rome was naturally the focus of the long strife between 



396 



MEDIAEVAL PEOPLES. 



Ghibellines and Guelf s, and thither the German kings came, 
arms in hand, to demand the imperial crown. During the 
Babylonish captivity the city was convulsed by deadly 
feuds between the noble families of the Orsini, Colonna, and 

Savelli. The 
famous monu- 
ments of the 
elder Rome — 
the Arch of 
Titus and the 
Colosseum — 
were fortified 
as the strong- 
holds of rival 
clans. At this 
time, Rienzi 
sought to re- 
vive the an- 
cient republic 
(1347). Of 
humble origin, 
he was the 
friend of Pe- 
trarch, the poet, and possessed 
a fiery eloquence that moved 
the masses. Elected tribune, he ruled for seven months, 
but, forgetting the simplicity of the olden time, he dressed 
in silk and gold, and was preceded by heralds with silver 
trumpets to announce his approach. The nobles rose 
against him, the people fell away, and the "Last of the 
Tribunes" was slain in a street riot. 




THE AUCH OF TITUS. 



THE CRUSADES, 



397 



THE CRUSADES (1095-1270). 

Origin. — Palestine, the land made sacred for all time 
by its religious history, had, from the earliest ages of the 
Church, a strong attraction for believers. A pilgrimage to 
Jerusalem, or other hallowed spot, became the most popular 
of penances. In the general belief, to atone for the greatest 




CKUBAiJiiUS ON THE MARCH. 



sin, one had only to bathe in the Jordan, or spend a night 
on Calvary. The number of pilgrims increased about the 
year 1000, many desiring to await in the Holy Land " the 
coming of the Lord." The Saracens welcomed the pilgi-ims ; 
but the Turks (p. 330), who afterward seized Palestine, in- 
flicted upon them every outrage that fanaticism could invent. 
Each returning palmer told a fresh tale of hoiTor. Peter 



398 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



[11th cent. 



the Hermit, stirred by what he saw in Jerusalem, resolved 
to rescue the Holy Sepulcher. With bare head and feet, 
dressed in a coarse robe tied with a cord, bearing a crucifix 
in his hand, and riding an ass, this fierce monk traversed 
Italy and France. Pope Urban II. supported his burning 
appeals. At a council held at Clermont, the assembled mul- 
titude shouted with one impulse, "God wills it ! " Thou- 
sands volunteered for the holy war, and fastened to their 

garments the red cross, 
— the symbol of this 
sacred vow. 

The First Crusade 
(1096) ^ numbered over 
half a milhon fighting 
men under Godfrey, 
Duke of Bouillon. There 
were one hundred thou^ 
sand steel-clad knights, 
including such nobles as 
Robert of Normandy, 
eldest son of WDliam 
the Conqueror j Bohe- 
mond, son of Robert 
Guiscard, the Norman 
founder of the kingdom of Sicily ; Hugh, brother of Philip I. 
of France j and Tancred, next to Godfrey, the pattern of 
chivalry. 




THE TOMB OF GODFREY L»E BOUILLON. 



1 Prior to this, Peter the Hermit, and a poor knight named Walter the Penniless, 
set oflf with a motley rabble of three hundred thousand men, women, and children. 
Without order or discipline, they crossed Europe, robbing the inliabitants and killing 
the Jews wherever they went. So great was the delusion, that farmers took their 
families with them in carts drawn by oxen ; and the children, carrying mimic 
swords, sported about, and shouted, whenever they saw a castle or town, "Isn't that 
Jerusalem t " Tliousand.s of the fanatical crowd were slain en route by the outraged 
people. The pitiable remnant fell beneath the Turkish saber, and their bleached 
bones served to fortify the camp of the Second Crusaders. 



1096.] THE CRUSADES. 399 

This great army poured into Constantinople.^ The em- 
peror Alexis quickly passed his unwelcome guests into Asia. 
Nice and Antioch were captured after bloody sieges. Final- 
ly the Crusaders, reduced to only twenty thousand men, Jip- 
proached Jerusalem. When they came in sight of the Holy 
City, the hardy warriors burst into tears, and in a transport 
of joy kissed the earth. It was forty days before they could 
pull down the Crescent from the walls.^ Then, forgetting 
the meekness of the Saviour whose tomb they were seeking, 
and in spite of Godfrey's and Tancred's protests, they mas- 
sacred seventy thousand infidels, and burned the Jews in 
then* synagogue. As evening came 
on, while the streets still ran with 
blood, they threw off their helmets, 
bared their feet, entered the Church 
of the Holy Sepulcher, sang hymns 
of praise, and partook of the com- 
munion. 

Godfrey was now elected King of 
Jerusalem, but he refused to wear a 
crown of gold where his Master had borne one of thorns. 
He was therefore styled Baron of the Holy Sepulcher : on 
his death the crown fell to Baldwin, his brother. War was 
continually waged between the Christians in the Holy City 
and their Mohammedan neighbors. During these contests 
there arose two famous mihtary religious orders, — the Ilospi- 
fallers, who wore a white cross on a black mantle, and the 
Templars, whose badge was a red cross on a white mantle. 
They vowed obedience, celibacy, and poverty; to defend 

1 The hau^lity Teutons looked with contempt on the eflfeniinate Greeks, and a 
rough baron rudely ascended the imperial tlirone, and sat down beside the monarch. 

2 Jerusalem had been wrested from the Turks by the Saracenic caliph of Egrypt. 

3 Two knights on one horse, to indicate the original poverty of the order. It after- 
ward became rich and corrupt (p. 360). 




SEAL OF THE TEMPLAliS.: 



400 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [12th CENT. 

pilgrims; and to be the first in battle and the last in 
retreat. 

Second Crusade (1147). — Half a century passed, when 
the swarming Saracens seemed about to overwhelm the httle 
Frank kingdom in Palestine. St. Bernard now preached 
a new crusade. Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of 
Germany led across Europe three hundred thousand men.^ 
But the treacherous emperor of the East cut off their food, 
and betrayed the Germans to the Turks amid the mountains 
of Cappadocia. The French, more as pilgrims than soldiers, 
reached Jerusalem, and, Conrad having joined Louis, the 
two monarchs laid siege to Damascus. Beaten back from 
its walls, they abandoned the crusade in humiliation. 

Third Crusade (1189). — Forty years elapsed, when the 
Egyptian sultan, Saladin, chief of Moslem warriors for 
courage and courtesy, took Jerusalem. The news con- 
vulsed Europe with grief. Richard Cceur de Lion, Phihp 
Augustus, and Frederick Barbarossa assumed the Cross. 
Frederick took a magnificent army across Hungary. 
While marching through Asia Minor, in attempting to 
swim a swoUen stream, he was drowned. 

Richard and Philip, conveying their troops by sea, had 
captured Acre — the key to Palestine — when the French 
king, jealous of the Lion-hearted's prowess and fame,^ re- 



1 Louis was accompanierl by Queen Eleanor (afterward divorced, and married to 
Henry II., p. 356), leading a body of women clad in kniglitly array; and Conrad was 
followed by a similar band, whose chief, with her gilt spurs and buskins, was called 
the Golden-footed Dame. 

2 The fame of Richard's valor lingered long in the East. Mothers stilled their 
children by uttering his dreaded name; and, when the Moslem and Christian host 
had been dust for many years, horsemen would shout to a shying steed, " Dost thou 
think it is King Richard?" In thousands of English homes, men idolized the Lion- 
hearted, in si>ite of his cruelty, the uselessness of his triumphs, and tlie weakness of 
bis reign. Saladin's admiration, too, was roused by Richard's valor. In the midst 
of battle, his brother sent to beg of the English king the honor of knighthood ; and 
when Philip and Richard lay tossing with fever in their tents before Acre, their 
generous foe forwarded them presents of pears and snow. 



12Tn CENT.] 



THE CRUSADES. 



401 



turned home. Richard pressed on, and at last reached a 
hill whence he conld see Jerusalem, twenty miles away. 
Hesitating to attack the city, he covered his face and sadly 
turned back, declarin'g that he who was '' unwilling to rescue 
was unworthy to view the sei>ulcher of Christ." 

On his return through Germany, Richard was thrown into 
prison by Leopold, Duke of Austria, whom he had grievously 
insulted in Palestine. 
After a time he was 
turned over to the 
German emperor, 
Henry VI. The Eng- 
lish people, to ransom 
theu' gallant king, 
were forced to give 
one foui'th of their 
incomes, and even to 
pawn the c h u r c li 
l)late. 

This was the last 
crusade that reached 
Palestine in force. 
The subsequent ex- 
peditions were direct- 
ed to other objects. 

The Fourth Cru- 
sade (1202) consisted 
of French and Ger- 
mans, under the Count of Flanders. Transports were obtained' 
from the Venetians by agreeing to take Zara, a city of Dalma- 
tia, for the Doge. The Crusaders next sailed for Constanti- 
nople to restore its dethroned emperor Isaac. They stormed 
the city, plundered its palaces, and destroyed its precious 




402 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES, 



[13th cent. 



monuments. A Latin empire was now established at Con. 
stantinople. This lasted half a century, and there seemed a 
hope of reuniting the Eastern and the Western Church ; but 
the Greeks recovered the Byzantine capital (1261). 

The Fifth Crusade ^ (1218), led by the King of Hungary, 

was finally directed to 
Egypt, as it was thought 
that the conquest of that 
country would be a step 
toward the recovery of 
Palestine. It ended in 
defeat. 





''-M^Zt- 



ST. LOUIS LANDING IN EGYPT. 



The Sixth Crusade (1228) was a pacific one. The Ger- 
man emperor Frederick II., although under an interdict 

1 The CliiWren's Crusade (1212) well Illustrates tlie wild folly of the times. Thirty 
thousand French boys, led by a peasant youth named Stephen, after innumerable 
hardships, reached Marseilles. Here they were induced by unscrupulous traders to 
take ship. Instead of soing to Palestine, they landed in Africa, and lar^e numbers 
of these unhappy children were sold as slaves in the Saracen markets. 



13th cent.] the crusades. 403 

from the Pope, went to Palestine, by a treaty with the snl- 
tan freed Jerusalem and Bethlehem from the Infidels, and, 
entering the Holy City, crowned himself king. A few years 
later, a horde of Asiatic Turks, fleeing before the Mongols 
under Genghis Khan (p. 405), overwhelmed the country. 

The Seventh and Eighth Crusades (1249, 1270) 
were conducted by St. Louis. In the first expedition he 
landed in Eg-j^t, but was taken prisoner, and his release 
secured only by a hea\y ransom ; in the second, he went to 
Tunis, with the wild hope of baptizing its Mohammedan king. 
Instead of making a proselyte, he found a gi-ave. With the 
death of St. Louis the spiiit of the Crusades expired. 
Soon after, the Mohammedans recaptured Acre, — the last 
Christian stronghold in Palestine. 

Effects of the Crusades. — Thougli these vast military expeditions 
had failed of their direct object, they had produced marked results. 
By staying the tide of Mohammedan conquest, they doubtless saved 
Europe from the horrors of Saracenic invasion. Commerce had received 
a great impulse, and a profitable trade had sprung up between the 
East and the West. The Italian cities had grown rich and powerful ; 
while the European states, by coming into contact with the more 
polished nations of the East, had gained refinement and culture. 

Many a haughty and despotic baron had been forced to gi'ant munici- 
pal rights to some city, or to sell land to some rich merchant, in order 
to procure funds for his outfit ; thus there slowly gi-ew up, between 
the lord and the peasant, a strong middle class. 

As the popes led in the Crusades, their influence increased immensely 
during this period. The departing crusaders received special privi- 
leges from the Church, while their person and property were under 
its immediate protection. Many knights willed their estates to a 
neighboring monastery, and, as few retm'ned from the East, the 
Church thus acquired vast wealth. 



404 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



THE MOOHS IN SPAIN. 

After the Moorish Conquest, the conquered Visi- 
goths found refuge among the mountains of Asturias. 
Gradually they gained strength, and began to win back the 
land of their fathers. Nowhere was the crusade against the 
Saracen waged more gallantly. Early in the 13th century 
there were fii-mly established in the peninsula four Christian 
kingdoms, — Portugal, Aragon, Castile, and Navarre, — while 
the Moorish power had shrunk to the single province of 




IBERIAN 
PENINSULA. 

15TH CENTURY 



Granada. The free constitutions of Aragon and Castile 
guaranteed the liberties of the people, and in the Cortes, or 
national assemblies of these kingdoms, the third estate se- 
cured a place long before representation was granted the 
commons of any other European country. The marriage 
of Ferdinand of Ai-agon and Isabella of Castile (1469) laid 



1492.] ASIA IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 405 

the foundation of the Spanish power. These illustrious 
sovereigns resolved to expel the Infidels from their last 
stronghold. Town after town was taken. The old Moori.sh 
castles and towers, impregnable to battering-ram or cata- 
pult, crumbled before the cannon of the Spanish engineers. 
Finally, as Ferdinand said, the time came '^ to pick out the 
last seed of the Moorish pomegranate." ^ The city of 
Granada was invested. After an eight-months' siege. King 
Abdallah gave up the keys of the Alliambra.^ It was now 
1492, the year of the discovery of America. 

ASIA IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

The principal Asiatic nations wliich influenced history 
dm-ing this period were the Mongols and the Turks, — Tar- 
tar races whose home was on the vast plateau of mid-Asia. 

The Mongols came into prominence in the 13th cen- 
tury, under Genghis Khan. This chief of a mere petty 
horde subdued the neighboring tribes, and then organized 
and disciplined the entire body of Tartars into one enor- 
mous army of horsemen. The result was appalling. The 
world had not seen since the time of Alexander such expedi- 
tions as this incomparable cavalry now made. If Attila was 
in Europe the " Scourge of God," much more did Genghis 
in Asia deserve that epithet. Fifty thousand cities, with 
their treasures of art, and five miUion human lives, were sac- 
rificed to his thirst for plunder and power. The sons and 
grandsons of Genghis followed up his conquests, until the 
Mongol Empire finally reached from the Pacific Ocean to 
the banks of the Vistula in Poland. 

1 Granada is tlie Spauish word for pomegranate. 

2 The fallen monarch, riding away, paused upon a rock still known as the "Last 
sigh of the Moor" to take a final view of tlie beautiful couutrj- and the "pearl of 
palaces " which he had lost. As he burst into tears, his mother exclaimed, " It befits 
you to bewail like a woman what you could not defend like a man." 



406 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. [1402. 

This mighty empire fell in pieces during the next century ; 
but about 1369 there arose a descendant of Genghis named 
Timour, or Tmnerlane, who sought to reunite the Mongol 
conquests. He conquered Great Tartary and Persia, and 
invaded India, — crossing the Indus where Alexander did. 
Turning thence into Asia Minor, he defeated the sultan of 
the Ottoman Turks, Bajazet (hghtning), upon the plains of 
Angora (1402) ; but afterward, marching to invade China, 
he died en route. His armies and empire quickly melted 
away. The track of the ferocious conqueror in his devas- 
tating path across Asia was marked by the pyramids of 
human heads he erected as monuments of his victories. 

Baber — a descendant of Tamerlane — followed up the con- 
quest of India, and estabhshed his capital at Delhi. There 
the "Great Moguls" long ruled in magnificence, erecting 
mosques and tombs that are yet the admiration of the trav- 
eler. The last of the Mogul emperors died almost in our 
own day, being still prayed for in every mosque in India, 
though confined to his palace by the Enghsh army, and liv- 
ing upon an English pension. 

The Turks. — (1) The SeljuMan TurJcs, about the time 
of the Norman Conquest, captured Bagdad, and their chief 
received from the caliph the high-sounding title of Com- 
mander of the Faithful. In 1076 they seized , Jerusalem, 
where their brutal treatment of the pilgrims caused, as we 
have seen, the Crusades. The fragments of this fii'st Turk= 
ish Empire were absorbed in the dominions of Genghis Khan. 
(2) The Ottoman TurTis were so named from Othman 
(1299-1326), the founder of theii- empu-e. His son Orchan 
created the famous force of Janizaries ^ (new troops), and a 

1 The stoutest and handsomest of the captive youth were selected annually for 
service in the army. Educated in the relif?ion of their masters and trained to arms, 
they formed a powerful body-guard, like the Praetorian Guard of Rome. It was the 
terror of Europe. ^ 



15th cent.] fall op CONSTANTINOPLE, 



407 



body of his warriors, crossing the Hellespont, gained a foot- 
ing on Enropean soil, — the first in Turkish history (135G) ; 
his gTaiidson Aniurath captured Adrianople; his gi-eat- 
grandson, Bajazet, in the battle of Nicopolis (139G), routed 
the chivalry of Hungary and France, ravaged Greece, and 
was finally checked only by the dreaded Tamerlane. 

Half a century afterward, Mohammed II., with over 250,- 
000 Turks, besieged Constantinople. Artillery of unwonted 
size and power battered its waUs for fifty-three days. The 
Janizaries at length burst through. The emperor Constan- 
tine, the last of the Cgesars, was slain, sword in hand, in the 
breach j and the Byzantine Empire, that had lasted over a 
thousand years, fell to rise no more. The Crescent now 
replaced the Cross on the dome of St. Sophia. 

The fall of Constantinople (1453) marks the close of the 
middle ages j but there was a transition period from the mid- 
dle ages to modern history, the length and date of which 
varied among the different nations. Each people had its 
own dawn and sunrise, and for itself entered into the day of 
modern civilization and progress. 




MOHAMMEDAN EMBLEMS. 



408 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



MEDIAEVAL CIVILIZATION. 

Bise of Feudalism. — The Roman government had sometimes 
granted lands on condition of military service ; the Franks followed 
a chief as their personal lord. Out of these two old-time customs there 
grew up a new system which was destined to influence society and 
politics throughout Europe for centuries. This was 

The Feudal System. — We have seen how the brave freemen who 
followed the Teuton chief shared in the land acquired by conquest, 
each man's portion being called his Allod (from od, an estate), and 
becoming his personal property. But in those troublous times men 




SEllFS OF THE 12TH CENTUKY (FUOM MS. OF THE TIME.) 

had to fight to retain what they had won. So it came to pass 
that a king, instead of keeping a great standing army to guard his 
scattered possessions or to prosecute foreign wars, granted a part of 
his estates as fiefs or feuds to his nobles. In this transaction he, as 
their suzerain, promised to them justice and protection, and they, as 
his vassals, agreed not only to serve him in person, but to furnish upon 
his call a certain number of armed men ready and equipped for active 
military service. In like manner the vassals of the Crown granted 
estates to their followers ; and in time most of the allodial owners were 
glad to swear fealty to some great lord in order to secure his protection. 
Powerful nobles became vassals of kings, and kings themselves were 
vassals of other kings, — as was William the Conqueror, who, as Duke 
of Normandy, owed homage to the dissolute Philip I. of France. Not 
laymen alone, but bishops and monastic bodies, held their lands by 
military service, and were bound to furnish their quota of soldiers. 



MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION. 409 

These different bands of armed men, collected together, formed the 
feudal army of the kingdom. Thus, in place of the solid, highly or- 
ganized Roman legion, there was a motley aiTay furnished and com- 
manded by the great nobles of the realm, each of whom was followed 
by an enormous retinue of knights, esquires, and lesser nobles, leading 
the military contingent of their respective manors or estates. 

In France, by the 11th century, feudalism was full grown, and its 
evils were at their height. The country was covered by a complete 
network of fiefs, and even the most simple privileges, such as the right 
to cross a certain ford, or to fish in some small creek, were held by 
feudal tenure. In this way one lord was frequently both suzerain and 
vassal to his neighbor lord. As the royal power had become almost 
paralyzed, the French dukes and counts ruled their compact domains 
like independent kings. Sheltered in their castles and surrounded by 
their followers, they made war, formed alliances, and levied taxes at 
their pleasure. 

In England the Norman Conqueror, knowang well the French mis- 
rule, prevented a like result by making all landholders, gi*eat and 
small, owe dii-ect fealty to himself, and by widely scattering the es- 
tates of each tenant-in-chief . i 

Feudal Oeiemonies.— Homage, Fealty, Investiture. — When a vassal 
received a fief, he did homage therefor on bended knee, ungirt and 
bareheaded, placing his joined hands in those of his lord, and promis- 
ing to become " his man " from that day forth. The vassal was bound, 
among his other obligations, always to defend his lord's good name, 
to give him his horse if dismounted in battle, to be his hostage if he 
were taken prisoner, and to pay him specified sums of money (aids) on 
particular occasions, — such as that of the marriage of the lord's eldest 
daughter, or the knighting of the lord's eldest son. 

Fealty did not include the obligation to become the lord's man, nor 
to pledge everything for his ransom ; it was sworn by tenants for life, 
while Homage was restricted to those who could bequeath their estates. 
Investiture was the placing in possession of an estate, either actually 
or symbolically, as by delivering a stone, turf, or branch. 

The Castle has been called the symbol of feudalism. A strong 
stone fortress, crowning some high, jagged cliff or beetling promontory, 
inclosed by massive, parapeted walls, girdled by moats and bristling 
with towers, it may well be likened to a haughty feudal lord. Bold 
and stout-hearted must have been the foe that ventured its assault. 

1 Compare with the policy of Cleisthenes, in Athens, p. 124.— The distinction 
between French and Englisli feudal obligations maj- be illustrated thus : Let A be 
the sovereign, B the teuant-in-chief, and C the uuderteuaut. In France, if B warred 
with A, C was bound to aid, not A, but B ; while in England, C was required to aid 
A against B. 



410 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



There were sometimes, as at Montlhery in France, five inelosures 
to pass before the donjon keep was reached. Over this great tower 
floated the banner of its lord, and within its stone walls, often ten feet 
thick, were stored his choicest treasures. Its entrance door, set high 
up in the wall, was guarded by a solid, narrow, outer staircase, a 
drawbridge, and a portcullis ; its near approach was protected by 
mounted battlements and a machicolated parapet. Intrenched in one 
of these grim strongholds a baron could, and often did, defy the king 




A MEDIEVAL CASTLE. 



himself. The Crusades broke the strength of early feudalism, and 
created 

Chivalry, which, as an institution, attained its height in the 14th 
century. In it were combined the old Germanic pride in prowess and 
respect for woman; the recent religious fervor; a growing love for 
splendor, poetry, and music ; an exclusive, aristocratic spirit ; and a 
hitherto disregarded sentiment of duty toward the weak and the op- 
pressed. Its chief exponent was 

The Knight, who, at his best, was the embodiment of valor, honor, 
gallantry, and munificence. Brave, truthful, and generous in charac- 
ter ; high-bred and courteous in manner ; strong, athletic, and grace- 



MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION 



411 



ful in person ; now glittering in polished steel and fiercely battering 
the Avails of Jerusalem ; now clad in silken jupon and tilting witli rib- 
boned lance at the gorgeous tournament ; always associated witli the 
sound of martial music, the jingle of armor, and the elasliing of 
swords, or with the rustle of quaintly robed ladies in castle halls, — 
the ideal chevalier rides through the middle ages, the central hero of all 
its romance. We see him first, a lad of seven years, joining a group 
of high-born pages and damsels who cluster about a fair lady in a 
stately castle. Here he studies music, chess, and knightly courtesies, 
and commits to memory his Latin Code of Manners. He carries his 
lady's messages, sends and re- 
calls her falcon in the chase, 
and imitates the gallantry he 
sees about him. Wlien a pil- 
grim-harper with fresh tidings 
from the Holy Land knocks at 
the castle gate, and sits down 
by the blazing fire in the great 
pillared hall, hung with ar- 
mor, banners, and emblazoned 
standards, or is summoned to 
a cushion on the floor of my 
lady's chamber, the little page's 
heart swells with emulous de- 
sire as he hears of the marvel- 
ous exploits of the Knights of 
the Holy Grail, or listens to the 
stirring Song of Roland. At 
fom-teen he is made squire, and 
assigned to some office about 
the castle, — the most menial 
duty being an honor in the 

knightly apprenticeship. His physical, moral, and military education 
becomes more rigid. Seated on his horse, he learns to manage arms, 
scale walls, and leap ditches. He leads the war-steed of his lord to 
battle or the tournament, and " rivets with a sigh the armor he is for- 
bidden to wear." At twenty-one his probatioi^ is ended. Fasting, 
ablution, confession, communion, and a night in prayer at the altar, 
precede the final ceremony. He takes the vow to defend the faith, to 
protect the weak, to honor womankind ; his belt is slimg around him ; 
his golden spurs are buckled on ; he kneels; receives the accolade, 1 

1 This was a blow on tlio neck of the candidate with the flat of a sword, given 
by the conferring prince, who at tlie same time pronounced the words: " I dub thee 
knight, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 




COSTUME (14TH AND 15TH CENTURIES). 



412 MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 

and rises a chevalier. His horse is led to the church door, and, amid 
the shouts of the crowd and the peal of trumpets, he rides away into 
the wide world to seek the glory he hopes to win. — Not many knights, 
it is true, were like Godfrey and Bayard. The very virtues of chivalry 
often degenerated into vices ; hut any approach to courtesy in this 
violent age was a great advance upon its general lawlessness.! 

The Tournament was to the mediasval knight what public games 
had been to the Greek, and the gladiatorial contest to the Roman. 
Every device was used to produce a gorgeous spectacle. The painted 
and gilded lists were hung with tapestries, and were overlooked by 
towers and galleries, decorated with hangings, pennants, shields, and 
banners. Here, dressed in their richest robes, were gathered kings, 
queens, princes, knights, and ladies. Kings-at-arms, heralds, and pur- 
suivants-at-arms — the reporters of the occasion — stood within or just 
without the arena ; musicians were posted in separate stands ; and 
valets and sergeants were stationed everywhere, to keep order, to pick 
up and replace broken weapons, and to raise unhorsed knights. At the 
sound of the clarions the competing chevaliers, arrayed in full armor 
and seated on magnificently caparisoned horses, with great plumes 
nodding above their helmets and ladies' ribbons floating from their 
lances, rode slowly and solemnly into the lists, followed by their several 
esquires, all gayly dressed and mounted. Sometimes the combatants 
were preceded by their chosen ladies, who led them in by gold or silver 
chains. When all was ready, the heralds cried, ^^ Laissez-les aller" (let 
them go), the trumpets pealed, and from the opposite ends of the arena 
the knights dashed at full speed to meet with a clash in the center. 
Shouts of cheer from the heralds, loud flourishes from the musicians, 
and bursts of applause from thousands of lookers-on, rewarded every 
brilliant feat of arms or horsemanship. And when the conquering 
knight bent to receive the prize from the hand of some fair lady, the 
whole air trembled with the cries of "honor to the brave," and "glory 
to the victor." But tournaments were not all joyous play. Almost 
always some were carried dead or dying from the lists, and in a single 
German tourney sixty knights were killed. 

Arms, Armor, and Military Engines. — Mail arinor was composed 
of metal rings sewed upon cloth or linked together in the shape of 
garments. Afterward metal plates and caps were intermixed with it, 

1 The knight who had been accused and convicted of cowardice and falsehood 
Inciirred a fearful degradation. Placed astride a beam, on a public scaffold, under 
the eyes of assembled knights and ladies, lie was stripped of his armor, wliich was 
broken to pieces before his eyes and thrown at his feet. His spurs were cast into the 
filth, his shield was fastened to the croup of a cart-horse and dragged in the dust, 
and his charger's tail was cut off. He was then carried on a litter to the church, the 
burial service was read over him, and he was published to the world as a dead coward 
and traitor. 



MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION. 413 

and in the 15th century a comi)lete suit of 2)Iate armor was worn. 
This consisted of several pieces of highly tempered and polished steel, 
so fitted, jointed, and overlapped as to protect the whole body. It was 
fastened over the knight with hammer and pincers, so ho could neither 
get in nor out of it alone, and it was so cumbrous and unwieldy that, 
once down, he coidd not rise again. TliTis he was "a castle of steel 
on his war-horse, a helpless log wlien overthrown." Boiled leather was 
sometimes used in place of metal. Common soldiers wore leather or 
quilted jackets, and an iron skull-cap. 

The longhow was to the middle ages what the rifle is to our day. 
The English excelled in its use, and their enemies sometimes left their 
walls unmanned, because, as was said, " no one could peep but he would 
have an arrow in his eye before he could shut it." The Genoese were 
famous crossbow-men. The bolts of brass and iron sent from their 
huge crossbows w^ould pass through the head-piece of a man-at-arms 
and pierce his brain. Many military arts and defenses used from the 
earliest times were still in vogue, and so remained until gimpowder 
was invented. Indeed, a mediaeval picture of a siege does not striking- 
ly differ from Ninevite sculptures or Theban paintings, either in the na- 
ture of its war-engines or in the perspective art of the drawing itself. 

Education and Literature. — During the llth and 12th centm-ies, 
schools and seminaries of learning were multiplied, and began to ex- 
pand into universities; that of Paris, the "City of Letters," taking the 
lead. Now, also, arose the Scholastic Fhilosophy, which applied the 
logic of Aristotle to intricate problems in theology. The Schoolmen 
began with Peter Lombard (d. 1160), a professor in the University of 
Paris, where he had studied under the brilliant Abelard, — an eloquent 
leetm'er, now remembered chiefly as the lover of Heloise. Lombard 
has been styled the "Euclid of Scholasticism." Another noted school- 
man was Albertus Magnus, a German of immense learning, whose 
scientific researches brought upon him the reputation of a sorcerer. 
The doctrines of Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican monk, and of Duns 
Scotus, a Franciscan, divid" d the schools, and the reasonings and 
counter-reasonings of Thomists and Scotists filled eoimtless pages with 
logical subtleties. The vast tomes of scholastic theology left by the 
13th century schoolmen " amaze and appall the mind with the enormous 
accumulation of intellectual industry, ingenuity, and toil, of which the 
sole result to posterity is this barren amazement." Roger Bacon was 
at this time startling the age by his w^onderful discoveries in science. 
Accused, like Albert the Great, of dealing with magic, he paid the pen- 
alty of his advanced views by ten years in prison. 

While in monastery and university the schoolmen racked their brains 
with subtle and profound distinctions, the gay French Troubadours, 
•quipped with their ribboned guitars, were flitting from castle to castle, 



414 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



where the gates were always open to them and their flattering rhymes 
The D'ouvcres supplied the age with allegories, comic tales, and long 
romances, while the German Minncsdnger (love-singers) numbered 
kings and princes among their poets. 

In Scandinavia, the mythological poems or sagas of 
the 8th-10th centuries were collected into what is called 
the older Edda (11th or 12th century) ; and afterward 
appeared the younger Edda, — whose legends linked the 
Norse race with the Trojan heroes (p. 115). The Ger- 
man NibelungenUed (12th century) was a collection of 
the same ancestral legends woven into a grand epic hy 
an unknown poet. 

To the 13th and 14th centuries respectively, belong 
the great poets Dante and Chaucer. About this time a 
strong desire for learning was felt among the common 
people, it being for them the only road to distinction. 
The children of burghers and artisans, whose educa- 
tion began in the little public school attached to the 
parish church, rose to be lawyers, priests, and states- 
men. The nobility generally cared little for scholarship. 
A gentleman could always employ a secretary, and the 
glory won in a crusade or a successful tilt in a tourna- 
ment was worth more to a mediasval knight than the 
book-lore of ages. Every monastery had a "writing- 
room," where the younger monks were employed in tran- 
scribing manuscripts. After awhile copying became a 
trade, the average price being about four cents a leaf 
for prose, and two for verse, — the page containing thirty 
lines. Adding price of paper, a book of prose cost not 
far from fifty cents a leaf. 

Arts and Architecture. — As learning was confined 
mostly to the Church, art naturally found its chief ex- 
pression in cathedral building. Toward the close of the 
12th century, the round-arched, Romanesque style gave 
place to the pointed-arched, spired, and buttressed edi- 
sTYLus.i g(jg_ ijijjQ ^gg q£ painted glass for windows crowned 
Centuries.) the glory of the Gothic cathedral. 2 Religious ideas 

1 The style, or stylus, was the chief instrument of -vpriting during the middle ages. 
With the pointed end the letters were cut on tlie waxen tablet, while the rounded 
head was used in making erasures. If the writing was to be preserved, it was after- 
waid copied by a scribe on parchment or vellum with a rude reed pen, which was 
dipped in a colored liquid. The stylo was sometimes made of bone or ivory, some- 
times of glass or iron, while those used by persons of rank were made of gold or 
silver, and were often ornamented with curious figures. 

* The Italians relied more on brilliant frescoes and Mosaics for interior effect; 



MEDIAEVAL CIVILIZATION 



415 



were expressed in designs and carvings. Thus the great size and lofti- 
ness of the interior symbolized the Divine Majesty; the high and 
pointed towers represented faith and hope ; and, as the rose was 
made to signify human life, everywhere on windows, doors, arches, and 
columns, the cross sprang out of a rose. So, too, the altar was i)laced 
at tlie East, whence the Saviour came, and was raised three steps to 
indicate the Trinity. These mighty structures were the work often 
of conttu-ios. The Cologne Cathedral was begun in 1248 ; its chancel 
was finished in 1320 ; but the lofty spire was not completed till our 
I own day. 

The Guilds and Corpora- 
tions of the middle ages were 
a great power, rivaling the in- 
fluence of the nobles, and fre- 
quently controlling the munici- 
pal government. 




COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. 



Manners and Customs. — Extravagance in dress, equipage, and 

table marked all high life. Only the finest cloths, linens, silks, and 
velvets, adorned with gold, pearls, and embroidery, satisfied tlie tastes 
of the nobility. 1 In the midst of the Hundi'ed- Years' War England 



the French ami English cathedrals excelled in painted glass. " Nothing can compare 
with the paitj^-colored glories of the windows of a perfect Gothic cathedral, wliere the 
whole history of tlie Bible is written in the hues of the rainbow."— Fcrfirusso?*. 

1 Men took the lead in fashion. Once peaked shoes were worn, the points two feet 
long; then the toes became six inclies broad. A fop of tlio 14th ct-ntury " wore long- 
pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold and silver chains; liose of one color 
on one leg and of another on the other; knee breeches; a coat one half white, the 



416 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



and France carried on a rivalry of splendor and expense. Delicacies 
from Constantinople, Palestine, Phoenicia, Alexandria, and Babylon 
were served at royal entertainments. The tables blazed with gold and 

silver plate, yet had not the 

refinement of a fork, and 

fingers were thrust into the 

rich dishes or tore the greasy 

meats into bits. A knight 

and his lady often ate from 

the same plate, and soaked 

their crnsts of bread in the 

same cup of soup. Men and 

women sat at table with their 

hats on, although it was the 

height of bad manners to 

keep on gloves during a visit, 

and a personal insult to take 

the hand of a friend in the 

street without first unglov- 

ing. Great households were 

kept up, and kings enter- 
tained as many as 10,000 per- 
sons daily at the royal board. 

The lower orders aped the 
higher, and Sumptuary Laws were made to protect the privileges of the 
nobility, not only in dress but also in food. 





MALE COSTUME, 
(nth and 12th Centuries.) 



FEMALE COSTUME. 
(11th and 12th Centuries.) 




MOVAHLE IRON CAGE (15TH CENTURY), 



Other blue or black ; a Ions beard ; a silk hood buttoned under his chin, embroidered 
with quaint figures of animals, and ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones." 



READING REFERENCES. 417 

Punishments were barbarous and severe. The gallows and the 
rack were ever at work. Chopping off of hands, putting out of eyes, 
and cutting off of ears, were common affairs. The most ingenious tor- 
tures were devised, and hanging was the mildest death allowed to 
criminals. « 

Summary (see p. 315). — The 5th and 6th centuries were charac- 
terized by the settlements of the Teutons in Roman territory. The 
7th century was marked by the rise of Mohammed and the spread 
of the Saracen Empire. The 8th century saw the growth of the 
Frankish power, culminating in the empire of Charlemagne. The 
9th century witnessed the welding of the Saxon sovereignties into 
England ; the breaking-up of Charlemagne's empire into France, Ger- 
many, and Italy; and the founding of Russia by Normans. The 
10th century brought Rollo into Normandy, and Capet to the French 
throne. The 11th century was made memorable by the Norman Con- 
quest of England ; the overthrow of the Greek-Saracen rule in south- 
ern Italy; and the war of the investiture in Germany. The 12th cen- 
tury saw the Crusades at their height, and the Italian republics in their 
glory. Tlie 13th century built up France, and granted Magna Charta 
to England. The l-lth century witnessed the Hundred-Years' War and 
free Switzerland. The 15th century is memorable for the deliverance 
of France ; the Wars of the Roses ; the Conquest of Granada, with the 
rise of Spain ; the fall of Constantinople ; and the discovery of America. 

READING REFERENCES. 

General 'Rjstohy. —JIallam's Middle Ayes.—I^utz and Arnold's Mediceval His- 
tory.— Schmitz's Middle Ages.— Freeman's General Sketch of European History.— 
Finlay's History of the Byzantine E)npire.—Milman's History of Latin Christianity.— 
Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe.— Creasy's Fifteen Decisive Battles.— 
Guizofs History of Civilization.— Menzies's History oflfiddle Ages.-Tlie Beginning 
of the Middle Ages (Epochs of History Series).— Duruy's Histoire du Moyen Age.— 
Freeman's Historical Geography of Europe {invaluable in tracing obscure geograph- 
ical changes).— Robertson's Charles V. (Introduction on Middle Ages) .—Sullivan's His- 
torical Causes and Effects.— Dunham's Middle Ages.- Adams's Manual of Historical 
Literature (an excellent bibliographical guide).— Lacroiz's Manners and Customs.— 
Science and Literature, and Military and Keligious Life, of the Middle Ages.— 
Maclear's Apostles of Mediceval Europe.— Wright's Homes of the Middle Ages, and 
Womankind in Western Europe.— Kingsley' 8 Roman and Teuton.— Baring Gould' 8 
Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.— Cox and Jones's Romances of the Middle Ages.— 
Oliphant's Francis of Assisi.— George Eliot's Romola. 

THE CuusADKS AND CmvxLUX.-Cox's Crusades.-MieTiaud's History of the Cru- 
sades — Mackay's Popular Delusions, art. The Crusades.— Addison's History of the 
Knights Templars.— Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (poetry).— Chronicles of the Crusades 
(Bohn's Library).— Bell's Studies of Feudalism.— Chronicles of Froissart (xmrivaled 
pictures of chivalry).— Scott's Ivanhoe, Talisman, and Anne of Geierstein.—Bulfinch's 
Age of CJiivalry.— Adams's Mediceval Civilization. 

ENGLANU.— ifitm<3'«, Knight's, Green's, Lingard's, Creasy's, Keightley's, Collier's, 
Froude's, and Gardiner's Histories of England.— Pearson's History of England, Early 



418 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES, 



and Middle Ages.— Freeman's Norman Conquest— Thompson's History of England 
(Freeman's Historical Course).— Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest— Pal- 
grave's Normandy and England.— CoT)Vs History of the Norman Kings of England.— 
Green's Making of England.— Freeman's Old English History.— The Norman Kings 
and Feudal System,- the Early Plantagenets ; Edivard III.; Houses of Lancaster 
and York (Epochs of History Series).— Smith's History of English Institutions (His- 
torical HarM-book Series).— Burton's History of Scotland (the standard authority). 
—Strickland's Lives of tlie Queens of England.— Green's Lives of the Princesses of 
England.— St. John's Four Conquests of England.— Shakspere's King John (Arthur) ,- 
also Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., and Richard III.—Bulwer's Last of the 
Barons.— Kingsley's Hereward, the Last of the Saxons.— The " Babee's Book." 

FiiAJUCK.— Godwin's (Vol. I.), White's, Smith's, Sismondi's, Michelet's, Bonne- 
chose' s, Markham's, Crowe's, Kitchin's, Yonge's, and Edwards's Histories of France. 
—Barnes's Brief History of France.— Thierry's History of the Gauls.— Guizot's Pop- 
ular History of France.— Martin's Histoire de France.— Luruy's Histoire de France.— 
Byron's Childe Harold (Moral).- James's Philip Augustus, Mary of Burgundy, and 
Jacquerie (fiction).— Southey's Joan of Arc (poetry).— Harriet Parr's Joan of Arc- 
Scott's Quentin Burward (fiction).— Jamison's Bertrand du Ghtesclin.— Kirk's Life 
of Charles the Bold.—3Iemoirs of Philippe de Comines.—Bulwer Lytton's translation 
of the Poem of Sou (Polio).— Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne.— James' s Life of 
Charlemagne.— Scott's Marmion, Canto 6, Stanza 33 (Roland). 

GF.RMAJiX.- Taylor's, Lewis's, MenzeVs, and Kohlrausch's Histories of Germany.— 
Bryce's Holy Roman Empire.— Sime's History of Germany (Freeman's Course).— 
Coxe's House of Austria.— Raumer's History of the Hohenstauf en. —Kington's Life of 
Frederick Il.—Peake's History of the German Emperors.— Abbott's Empire of Aus- 
tria.- Schiller's Drama of William Tell.— Scott's Ballad of the Battle of Sempach. 

SPAIN, Italy, Turkey, wyc— Hunt's Italy (Freeman's Course).— Irving' s 3Ia- 
homet and his Successors, and Conquest of Granada.— Sismondi's History of Italian 
Republics.— Campbell's Life of Petrarch.— Longfellow's Dante.— Roscoe's Life of 
Lorenzo de' Medici.— Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella.- Villari's Life of 
Savonarola.— Gh-imm's Life of Michael Angelo.—Ockley's History of the Saracens.— 
Symonds's Renaissance in Italy.— Taine's Art in Italy.— Creasy' s History of the Otto- 
man Turks.— Freeman's History and Conquests of the Saracens.— Lytton's Siege of 
Granada (fiction). 



CHRONOLOGY. 



FIFTH CENTURY (Concluded). 

(See p. 312.) 

A. D. 
Attila defeated in battle of Chalons . . 451 

Clovis wins battle of Soissons 486 

Theodoric with the Ostrogoths con- 
quers Italy 489-493 

Clovis becomes a Christian 496 

SIXTH CENTURY. 

Paris, Clovis's capital 510 

Arthur in Britain (coujectured) 515 

Time of Justinian 527-565 

Belisariusin Africa, 533; in Italy.. 536-539 
Silk Manufacture brought to Europe 551 
End of Ostrogoth Kingdom In Italy. 553 
Lombards conquer Italy 568 



A. D. 

Birth of Mohammed 570 

St. Augustiue introduces Christian- 
ity into Britain 596 

SEVENTH CENTURY. 

TheHegira 622 

Mohammed's Death 632 

Omar captures Jerusalem 637 

Sixth General Council, at Constan- 
tinople 680 

EIGHTH CENTURY. 

Saracens invade Spain 711 

Martel overthrows Saracens at 
Toura 732 



CHRONOLOGY. 



419 



A. I). 

Pepin the Short becomes king.— 

Carloviugian Dynasty founded ... 752 

Gift of Exarchate to Pope 754 

Emirate of Cordova founded 755 

Charlemaj^ue becomes sole King of 

the Franks 771 

Rattle of Roncesvalles 778 

llaroun al Raschid, caliph 786 

Seventh General Council, at Nice... 787 

Danes first land in Britain, about. . . 789 

Charlemagne crowned at Rome 800 

NINTH CENTURY. 

Death of Charlemagne 814 

Egbert, first King of England 827 

Battle of Fontenay 841 

Treaty of Verdun 843 

Russia founded by Ruric 862 

Alfred, King of England 871-901 

TENTH CENTURY 

Alfred's Death 901 

RoUo the Norseman founds Nor- 
mandy 911 

Otto the Great, Emperor of Ger- 
many 936-973 

Hugh Capet crowned ; founds Cape- 
tian Dynasty 987 

ELEVENTH CENTURY. 

Canute (Knut), King of England 1017-35 

Normans conquer South Italy 1040 

Edward the Confessor restores Sax- 
on Line in England 1042 

Guelf and Ghibelline Feud begins .. 1061 

Normans conquer England 1066 

Turks capture Jerusalem 1076 

First Crusade 1096 

TWELFTH CENTURY. 

Guiscard of Normandy, King of 

Naples 1102 

Knights Templars founded 1118 

Second Crusade 1147 

Piantagenet Line founded 1154 

Henry II. invades Ireland 1171 

Third Crusade 1189 

THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

Fourth Crusade 1202 

War against Albigenses 1208 



A. D. 

Battle of Runnymede.— Jolin grants 

Magna Cliarta 1215 

Fifth Crusade 1218 

Sixth Crusade 1228 

Genghis Kli an.— Gregory IX. estab- 

lislies Inquisition 1233 

Seventh Crusade 124!» 

Mongols sack Bagdad 1258 

Eighth Crusade 1270 

Hapsburg Line founded 1273 

Teutonic Order conquers Prussia... 1281 

Edward I. conquers Wales 1263 

Turks capture Acre.— End of Cru- 
sades 1291 

Edward conquers Scotland 1295 

FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

Pope removes to Avignon 1306 

Wallace executed 1305 

Battle of Bannockburn 1314 

Battle of Morgarteu 1315 

Hundred- Years' War 1328-1453 

Battle of Crecy 1346 

Calais surrendered 1347 

Rienzi, Tribune of Rome 1347 

Battle of Poitiers 1356 

Pope returns to Rome 1377 

Wat Tyler's Insurrection 1381 

Battle of Sempach 1386 

FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

John IIuss burned 1415 

Battle of Agincourt 1415 

Jeanne D' Arc at Orleans 1428 

Charles VII. crowned at Rheims 1429 

Jeanne d'Arc burned 1431 

Capture of Constantinople 1453 

Wars of the Roses 1455-85 

Gutenberg prints the first book 1456 

Battles of Granson, Moral, and Nan- 
cy (Death of Charles the Bold).. 1476-77 

Lorenzo de' Medici at Florence 1478 

Union of Castile and Aragon nnder 

Ferdinand and Isabella 1479 

Battle of Bos worth.— Tudor Line 

founded 1485 

Fall of Granada 1492 

Columbus discovers America 1492 

Charles VIII. invades Italy 1494 

Vasco da Gama doubles Cape of 

Good Hope 1497 

Savonarola burned 1498 



420 



MEDIEVAL PEOPLES. 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS 



ENGLAND. 



William r... 
William II. 



1066 
1087 



Henry 1 1100 

Stephen 1135 

Henry II 1154 

Kichard 1 1189 

John 1199 



Henry III 1216 



Edward 1 1272 



Edward II 1307 



Edward III 1327 



Richard II 1377 

Henry IV 1399 



Henry V 1413 

Henry VI 1422 

Edward IV 1461 

Edward V 1483 

Richard III 1483 

Henry VII 1485 



FRANCE. 





Louis VI 

Louis VII 


1108 

1137 


Philip II 


1180 


Louis VIII 

Louis IX 

Philip III 

Philip IV 


1223 

1226 

1270 

1285 


Louis X 


1314 


Philip V 


1316 


Charles IV 


1322 


Philip VI 


1328 

1350 


Charles V 

Charles VI 


1364 

1380 


Charles VII 

Louis XI 

Charles VIII 

Louis XII 


1422 

1461 

1483 

1498 



GERMANY. 
Henry IV 1056 



Henry V 1106 

Lothaire II 1125 

Conrad III 1138 

Frederick Barbarossa 1152 

Henry VI 1190 

PhiUp 1197 



Otto IV 1209 

Frederick II 1215 

Conrad IV 1250 

Rudolf 1273 

Adolphus 1292 

Albert 1 1298 



Henry VII 1308 

Lewis IV 1314 

Frederick the Fair 1314 

Charles IV 1347 

Wenceslaus 1378 



Rupert 1400 

Sigismund 1410 

Albert II 1438 

Frederick III 1440 

Maximilian 1 1493 




GOLD FLOKLN, LOUIS 1\. 



MODERN PEOPLES. 



" The human mind wrote History and this must read it. The Sphinx must 
solve her own riddle. Every fact narrated must correspond to something in 
me to he intelligible. As we read, we must become Greek, Roman, Turk, 
priest, king, martyr, and executioner ; we must fasten these images to some 
reality iu our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly. Each new 
fact, and each political moment, has a meaning for us. We may see our own 
vices without heat in the distant persons of Solomon, Alcibiades, and Catiline. 
We are to read History actively, not passively ; to esteem our own life the 
text, and books the commentary. Thus compelled, the Muse of History will 
utter oracles as never to those who do not respect themselves. I have no 
expectation that any man will read History aright who thinks that what was 
done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any 
deeper sense than what he is doing to-day." 

Emerson. 



BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS. 



Introduction. 



The 16th 
Century. 



The 17th 
Century. 



The 18th 
Century, 



The 19th 
Century. 



THE French in Italy. 



1. Charles VIII. 

2. Louis XII. 

3. Francis I. 



•2. THE AGE OF CHAULE8 V. 



[ 1. The Rivalry ol" Charles and 
•n Francis. 

I 2. The Reformation. 



3. THE RISE OF THE 
PUBLIC. 



DUTCH RE- 



The Netherlands. 
The Reformation. 
Tlie Duke of Alva. 
The Forty- Years' War. 



4. THE French 

WARS. 



Civil-Religious 



5. England under the Tudors. 



1. THE Thirty-Years' War, 



The Absolute Monarchy in 

FRANCE. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 
PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



1. The Reformation in France. 
I 2. Francis II. 

< 3. Charles IX. 
I 4. Henry III. 
I 5. Henry IV. 

( 1. Henry VII. 

2. Henry VIII. 

3. Edward VI. 

4. Mary. 

5. Elizabeth. 



Causes. 

Opening of the War. 
Imperial Triumph. 
Tilly. 



Gustavus 
Adolphus. 



b. Leipsic. 

c. Wallenstein. 

d. Liitzen. 

e. Death of 
Gustavus. 

5. Remainder of War. 
t 6. Peace of Westphalia. 
( 1. Age of Richelieu. 
\ 2. Age of Louis XIV. 
r 1. James I. 

2. Charles I. 

3. The Civil War. 

4. The Commonwealth. 

5. The Restoration. Charles II. 

6. James II. 

7. Revolution of 1688. William 

and Mary. 

8. Anne. 



1. PETER The Great and Charles Xll. 

2. RISE OF PRUSSIA: AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



3. ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF 
HANOVER. 



4. The FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



1. George I. 

2. George II. 

3. George III. 

I 4. See ]9tli Century. 



1. France. 



ENGLAND. 

GERMANY. 

ITALY. 

TURKEY. 

GREECE. 

THE NETHERLANDS. 

RUSSIA. 

JAPAN. 



I 3. 



Louis XV. 
Louis XVI. 

f a. Abolition of 
French Monarcliy. 

Rev- j b. R'gn of Tei-ror. 
olu- ] c. Directory. 
tion. d. Consiilate. 
[ e. Umpire. 

(See Analysis of ISth Cent.) 
The Restoration. 
The Second Republic. 
The Second Emiiire. 
The Third Republic. 



[The subdivisions of these 
general topics may be filled in 
from the titles of the paia- 
graphs in tlie text, as the stu- 
dent proceeds.] 



MODERN PEOPLES. 




GLOISE ILLUSTUATING THE GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ISTH CENTUKY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The End of the 15th and the Beginning of the 
16th Century formed the springtime of a new era. It was 
an epoch of important events : in 1491, Charles VIII. mar- 
ried Anne of Brittany, which united to the French crown the 
last of the great feudal provinces ; in 1492, Granada feU into 
the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella, a conquest which estab- 
hshed the Spanish monarchy ; in the same year, Columbus 



424 MODERN PEOPLES. [15th CENT. 

discovered America^ wliich gave a new world to the old ; in 
1494, the Italian wars commenced, and with them the bat- 
tles and rivalries of the chief European nations; in 1508, 
Raphael and Michael Angelo were painting in the Vatican at 
Rome, which marked a revolution in art; in 1517, Luther 
posted his 95 theses on the Wittenberg cathedral door, and 
so inaugurated the Reformation ; in 1521, Magellan circum- 
navigated the globe, thus giving correct geographical ideas ; 
finally, about 1530, Copernicus finished his theory of the solar 
system, which was the beginning of a new epoch in science. 

The Causes of this wonderful change were numerous. 
The Crusades kindled a spirit of trade, adventure, and con- 
quest. Travel at the East enlarged the general knowledge 
of the earth. The use of the mariner's compass emboldened 
sailors to undertake long voyages. Large cities had risen to 
be centers of freedom, commerce, manufactures, and wealth. 
The revival of learning in Italy stirred men's thoughts in 
every land. fThe f aU of Constantinople scattered the treas- 
ui*es of Greek literature over the West ; learned men, driven 
from the East, settled in Europe ; the philosophy and arts of 
Athens and Rome were studied with zest ; each nation felt, 
in turn, the impulse of the Renaissance ; and a succession 
of painters, sculptors, poets, and historians arose such as 
Christendom had never seen^ There were now nearly forty 
universities in Europe, and' students traveling to and fro 
among them distributed the new ideas, which gradually 
found theii^ way into the minds of the masses. Above aU 
else, two inventions revolutionized Europe. 

Sfrunpowder^ pierced the heaviest armor, and shattered the 



1 Gunpowder seems to liave been known to the Chinese at an early day, though 
Roger Bacon, an English monk of the 13th century, is called its inventor. Its appli- 
cation to war is ascribed to a German nametl Schwartz (1330), but long before that 
the Moors used artillery in the defense of Cordova. The English at Cr6cy had three 
small cannon. The French under Louis XI. invented trunnions, a light carriage, and 



J5th cent.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



425 



strongest wall. The foot-soldier with his musket could })ut 
to flight the knight-errant with his lance. Standing armies 
of infantry and artiUery took the place of the feudal levy. 
This changed the whole art of war. The king was now 
stronger tlian the noble.' 




Printing by means of movable types was invented by 
Gu'tenberg of Mentz, who issued in 1456 a Latin Bible. 
Books, which had hitherto been laboriously copied on parch- 
ment, were now rapidly multiplied, and the cost was greatly 
reduced. Cheaper books made new readers. Knowledge 
became more widely diffused. 

The Political Condition of Europe was that of great 



cast-iron shot, thus equipping a weapon scrvicealjle in the fiekl. Charles VIII. owed 
his rapid conquest of Italy to his park of liglit artillery that was in striking contrast 
to the cumbersome Italian bombards dragged about with great difficulty by oxen and 
tiring stone balls. 

BGH— 25 



426 MODERN PEOPLES. [15th cent. 

monarchies, each ready to turn its forces against the others. 
The so-called '^States-System'' now arose. Its object was 
the preservation of the Balance of Power, i. e., the prevent- 
ing any one state from getting a superiority over the rest. 
Thence came alliances and counter-alliances among the dif- 
ferent nations, and various schemes of diplomacy that often 
bewilder the student of modern history. 

Maritime Discoveries. — Up to this time, the known 
world comprised only Europe, southwestern Asia, and a 
strip of northern Africa. The rich products of the East 
wei-e still brought to the West by way of Alexandria and 
Venice. Cape Nun, on the coast of Africa, by its very name 
declared the belief that there was nothing attainable beyond. 
The sea at the equator was thought to be boiling hot, and 
the maps represented the Occident as bristling with monsters. 

The Fortuguese sailors, under the auspices of Prince 
Henry and King John II., ventured each voyage further 
south, crossed the dreaded equator, and, sailing under the 
brighter stars of a new hemisphere, league by league explored 
the African coast, until finally Diaz (1487) doubled the con- 
tinent. The southern point he well named the Cape of 
Storms ; but King John, seeing now a way to reach India 
by sea, rechristened it the Cape of Good Hope. Eleven years 
later Vasco da Gama realized this sanguine expectation. He 
rounded the Cape, sailed across the Indian Ocean, landed 
on the Malabar coast, and returned home with a cargo of 
Indian products. The old routes across the MediteiTanean, 
through Egypt and the Levant, were now nearly abandoned. 
The Portuguese soon made a settlement on the Malabar 
coast. Their commercial establishments, shipping by sea 
directly to Europe, quickly gathered up the Eastern trade. 
Lisbon, instead of Venice, became the great depot of Indian 
products. 



GREAT VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY SINCE THE 15t) 




RNTUKY AND PRINCIPAL COLONIAL POSSESSIONS 




FEEJEE 13 ' 



NEW CALEDONIA 



•NEW AMSTERDAM I. 
• ST. PAULS I. i633 



10 



Jl] J. 



Hkerguelen 

m2 



./\p6i6. 



'^. 



...CauTc ir^^ .•• 



V?-! 
^ 



}^ 



ENDERBY I 



I I 



WILKES LAND ^'-> '"ViftOV^*. 5 

90 120 150^'^,\vx*i-l'^ 180 

tTHUTfilM, ItRvMt 4 CO., I«C».. M T. 



1498.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



427 




A SHIP OF THE 15TH CENTURY. 
(From a Drawing attributed to Columbus. ) 



ColumhuSy meanwhile, in- 
spii-ed by the same hope of 
fiudiiig* a sea-route to India, 
and beheving the earth to be 
round, sailed westward. He 
reached, not India, as he sup- 
posed, but a new world. On 
his third voyage, the very 
year that Da Gama sailed to 
Asia, Columbus first saw the 
coast of South America. 

Adventurers of many na- 
tions now flocked eagerly 
through the door Columbus 
had opened. The names 
of Vespucci, Balboa, Cartier, 
Ponce de Leon, and De Soto are familiar to every student of 
American history. |Tlie Cabots, saihng under the Enghsh 
flag, explored the coast of the New World from Labrador to 
Chesapeake Bay. j Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, in 1500, 
took possession cfc Brazil in the name of his king. Finally 
Magellan passed through the strait still known by his name, 
and crossed the Pacific to the Philippine Islands ; there he 
was killed by the savage natives, but one of his ships, con- 
tinuing the voyage, circumnavigated the globe (1521). 

Mexico, when discovered by the Spaniards, had reached, 
under the Montezumas, — its Aztec rulers, — a considerable 
degree of civilization. Its laws were written in hiero- 
gl;y^hics j its judges were chosen for life ; its army was fui'- 
nished with music, hospitals, and surgeons; its calendar 
was more accurate than the Spanish ; its people were skilled 
in agriculture and the arts ; and its capital, Mexico, was sup- 
plied with aqueducts, and adorned with palaces and temples. 



428 MODERN PEOPLES. [1519-21. 

The Aztecs, however, were idolaters and cannibals ; and their 
civilization was ignorant of horse, ox, plow, printing, and 
gunpowder. 

Cortes^ with a little army of 600 Spaniards, fearlessly 
invaded this powerful empii-e. His cannon and cavalry car- 
ried terror to the simple-minded natives. A war of three 
years, crowded with romance as with cruelty, completed the 
conquest. Mexico remained a province of Spain until 1821. 

Peru, under the Incas, was perhaps richer and more pow- 
erful than Mexico. Two great military roads extended the 
entire length of the empire, and along them the public cou- 
riers carried the news 200 miles per day. A vast system of 
water- works, more extensive than that of Egypt, irrigated 
the rainless regions, and agriculture had attained a high 
degree of perfection. The government was paternal, the 
land being owned by the Inca, and a portion assigned to 
each person to cultivate. Royal officers directed the indus- 
try of this great family in tillage, weaving, etc., and, though 
no one could rise above his station, it was the boast of the 
country that every one had work, and enjoyed the comforts 
of life. 

Pizarro, an unprincipled Spanish adventurer, overthrew 
this rich empire (1533), and imprisoned the Inca. The un- 
fortunate captive offered, for his ransom, to fill his cell with 
gold vessels as high as he could reach j but, after he had 
collected over $15,000,000 worth, he was strangled by his 
perfidious jailers. 

The Spanish Colonies rarely prospered. In Mexico, Cortes sought 
to rule wisely. He sent home for priests and learned men ; founded 
schools and colleges; and introduced European plants and animals. 
But, on his return to Spain, he became, like Columbus, a victim of 
ingratitude, though he had given to the emperor Charles V. "more 
states than Charles had inherited cities," 

In general, the Spanish governors destroyed the native civilization, 



INTRODUCTION. 



429 



without introducing the Eui'opean. The thirst for gold was the princi- 
pal motive that drew them to the New World. The natives were por- 
tioned among the conquerors, and doomed to work in the mines. It is 
said that four lifths of the Peruvians perished in this cruel bondage. 
The kind-hearted Las Casas, the apostle of the Indians, spent his life 
in vainly seeking to alleviate their miseries, convert them to Christi- 
anity, and obtain for them governmental protection. To supply the 
fearful waste of the population, negroes were brought from Africa, and 
so slavery and the slave-trade were established. The Spaniards turned 
to agriculture only when gold-hunting ceased to pay ; and, not being a 
trading people, their colonial commerce fell chiefly into the hands of 
foreigners. For a time, however, the Spanish coffers were running 
over with American gold and silver. 

READING REFERENCES. 

HeereiV 8 Manual.— Dyer's History of Modern Europe.— Heeren's Historical Trea- 
tises. —Yonge's Three Centuries of Modern History .—Arnold' s Lectures on Modern 
History.— Thalheimer's Manual of Modern History.— MicheleVs Modern History.- 
Buruy's Histoire des Temps Modernes.-Irving's Life of Columbus.- Parkinan's Pio- 
neers of France.— Help's Spanish Conquest of America.— PrcscotVs Ferdinand and 
Isabella {Columbus).— Wallace's Fair God (fiction).— Barnes's Brief Hist, of the U. S. 
—Barnes's Popular Hist, of the U. S.—Squier's Ancient Peru, Harper's May., Vol. 7.— 
Abbott's Cortez, Harper's 3fag., Vol. 12.— Abbott's Columbus, Harper's Mag., Vol. 38. 
—Higginson's Spanish Discoveries, Harper's Mag., Vol. 65.—Eggleston's Beginning 
of a Nation, Century Magazine, Vol. 2b.— Fitzgerald's Kings of Europe and their 
Families (excellent for genealogy). 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS AT HAVANA. 



480 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. THE FRENCH IN ITALY. 

The Invasion of Italy (1494) by the French may be 
considered the opening event of modern history. The many 
leagues formed during the progress of this invasion, illus- 
trate the growth of the new States- System. 

Charles VIII. (1483-98), filled with dreams of rivaling 
Alexander and Charlemagne, resolved to assert the claim of 
his house to the kingdom of Naples.^ Milan, Florence, and 
Rome opened their gates to his powerful army. He entered 
Naples amid the acclamations of the populace. This bril- 
liant success turned the head of the weak king, and he gave 
himself up to feasts and tournaments. Meanwhile the first 
extended league in modern history was formed by Milan, 
Venice, the Pope, Maximilian of G-ermany, and Ferdinand 
of Spain, to expel the invader. Charles retreated as hastily 
as he had come, and by the victory of Fornovo secured his 
escape into France. 

Louis XII. (1498-1515), inheriting the schemes of 

Geographical Questions.— 'Locate Naples ; Milan ; Fornovo ; Venice ; Pavia ; 
Marignano; Genoa; Vienna; Wittenberg; Augaljurg; Sraalcald; Nuremberg; 
Innsbruck ; Passau ; Trent ; Guinegate ; Calais ; Toul ; Verdun ; Rouen ; Crespy ; 
Passy ; Ivry ; Nantes ; Antwerp ; Leyden ; Amsterdam ; Haarlem ; Ghent ; Edin- 
burgh ; Flodden ; Plymouth. Point out the seven provinces of Northern or United 
Netherlands ; the limits of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century. 

1 The Dukes of Anjou, a branch of the House of France (p. 355), having been 
expelled from Italy, became established in the petty principality of Provence. After 
the death of Ren6, who, according to Shakspere, bore 

" The style of king of Naples, 
Of both the Sicilies and Jerusalem, 
Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman," 
the province and the claim of the house fell to Louis XI. (Brief Hist. France, p. 106). 



1494.] 



THE FRENCH IN ITALY. 



431 



Charles VIII. with a claim to Milan, led the second expedi- 
tion over the Alps. Milan quickly fell into his hands. An 
arrangement was made Avitli Ferdinand to divide Naples 
between them ; but the conquerors quarreled over the spoil, 




and the French army, in spite of the heroism of the Cheva- 
lier Bayard, was beaten back from Naples by the Spanish 
infantry under the "Great Captain" Gonsalvo. 



432 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1508. 



Three Leagues. — Louis next joined the League of Camhrai 
(Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Pope Julius II.) against Venice. 
Just as the fall of that repubhc seemed at hand, jealousies 
arose among the confederates. Pope Julius suddenly turned 
the scale by forming the Holy League (Ferdinand, Maxi- 
miUan, Venice, and the Swiss), which drove the French out of 
Italy. But Louis, now allied with Venice, again descended 
upon Milan. TJie League of Malines (Ferdinand, Maximihan, 
Henry VIII., and Leo X.) stayed his steps anew. Henry 
VIII. invaded France, and at Guinegate the French cavalry 
fled so fast before him that the victory is known as the Bat- 
tle of the Spurs. Louis, beaten on aU sides, was glad to 
make peace, 
Francis I. (1515-47), also lured by the deceitful luster 

of Italian conquest, be- 
gan his reign by pour- 
ing his troops over tne 
Alps, through paths 
known only to the 
chamois-hunter. The 
Swiss mercenaries 
guarding the passes 
were taken by surprise, 
and finally beaten in 
the bloody battle of 
Marignano (1515). 
The French were in- 
toxicated with joy. 
Francis was dubbed a 
knight on the field by 
the Chevalier Bayard. Milan feU without a blow. The 
Swiss made with France a treaty know^n as the Perpetual 
Peace, since it lasted as long as the old French monarchy. 




FRANCIS I. (AFTElt TITIAN). 



THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 433 

II. THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 

1. THE RIVALRY OF CHARLES AND FRANCIS. 

Spain was now the leading power in Europe. Ferdi- 
nand ruled Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and vast regions 
in tlie New World, — the gift of Columbus to the Castilian 
crown ; w^liile his daughter Joanna was married to Philip, 
son of Maximilian of Austria, and of Mary, daughter of 
Charles the Bold. Wlien Charles, son of Philip, on the 
death of his grandfather Ferdinand, succeeded to the 
crown of Spain, he added the Low Countries to its pos- 
sessions ) and on the death of his other grandfather, Maxi- 
mihan, he inherited the sovereignty of Austria, and was 
elected Emperor of Germany (1519). It was the grandest 
empu-e Europe had seen since the days of Augustus, unit- 
ing, as it did, under one scepter, the infantry of Spain, the 
looms of Flanders, and the gold of Peru. 

Charles's Rivalry with Francis. — Francis I. had been 
a candidate for the imperial crown, and his vanity was sorely 
hurt by Charles's success. Henceforth these two monarchs 
were bitter enemies. Their rivahy deluged Europe in blood. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520).— Before begin- 
ning hostilities, both kings sought to win the friendship of 
Henry VIII. Francis met Henry near Calais. The mag- 
nificence displayed gave to the field its name. The two 
kings feasted and played together like schoolboys.^ Henry 
swore not to cut his beard until he should again visit his 
" good brother ; " Francis made a like vow, and long beards 
became the latest French fashion. 

But Charles negotiated more quietly, and, w^hile he flat- 
tered the bluff and good-natured Henry, won his all-power- 

1 The three mightiest sovereigns of Europe in the first lialf of the IGth century— 
Henry VIII. of England, Charles V. of Spain, and Francis I. of France— were all 
crowned before reaching their majority. 



434 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1520. 



ful minister, Cardinal Wolsey, by hopes of the papacy. A 
league was soon after formed of the Pope, the Emperor, and 
the King of England, against Francis. 








FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD. 

Battle of Pa via (1525). — Italy was again the principal 
battlefield. Francis, anxious to renew the glories of Marig- 
nano, led a magnificent army across the Alps, and besieged 
Pavia. There he was attacked by the imperialists under 
Bourbon.^ At first the French artillery swept all before it. 

1 The Duke of Bourbon was Constable of France; but, liaving been neglected, by 
the king and wronged by the queen-mother, he fled to the enemy for revenge, drove 
the French out of Italy, and invaded Provence. Francis forced the imperialists back, 
and followed them across the Alps, tlius beginning the fatal campaign of Pavia. Dur- 
ing the French retreat, Chevalier Bayard was struck by a ball (1524). Bourbon, coming 
up, offered him words of clieer. The dying hero replied, " Think rather of yourself in 
arms against j'^our king, your coiintrj', and your oath ! " The universal horror felt in 
France at Bourbon's treachery shows the increased sanctity of the royal autlioiity 
over feudal times, and the influence of the recent irvival of classic literature wliich 
taught treason to one's country to be a crime of tlie blackest dye. The nobles wlio 
joined in the " League of the Public Good " with Charles the Bold against Louis XI. 
were not considered traitors, yet that was little over half a century before (Biief 
Hist France, p. 115). 



1525.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 435 

Francis, thinking the enemy about to flee, charged with his 
kniglits ; in so doing, he came in front of liis guns, and tluis 
checked their fire. Thereupon the imperiaUsts ralUed, and 
a terrible hand-to-hand conflict ensued. The flower of the 
French nobles was cut down. The Swiss, forgetting their 
ancient valor, fled. Francis himself, hemmed in on all 
sides, wounded, unhorsed, and covered with blood and dust, 
at last yielded his sword. 

Treaty of Madrid. — The royal prisoner was carried to 
Madrid, and confined in the gloomy tower of the Alcazar. 
There, pining in captivity, he fell sick. The crafty emperor, 
fearing to lose the ransom, released him, on his agi'ceing to 
siuTcnder Burgundy and his Italian claims, and give up his 
two sons as hostages. On the way home, Francis vapored 
much about Regulus, but quickly broke his promise,^ and 
signed a treaty with the Pope, Henry, and the Venetians, to 
di-ive the imperialists out of Italy. 

Sack of Rome. — Charles now sent Bourbon into Italy. 
His men being unpaid and eager for plunder, he led them to 
Rome as the richest prize. Bourbon was shot as he was 
placing a ladder, but the infuriated soldiery quickly scaled 
the walls. Never had the Eternal City suffered from Goth 
or Vandal as she now did from the subjects of a Christian 
emperor. The Pope himself, besieged in the Castle of St. 
Angelo, and forced to surrender, was put into close confine- 
ment till he should pay an enormous ransom.^ The sack 
lasted for months, during which every kind of insult and 

^ He had already provided for this, for, a few lioiirs before signinj^ the treaty, he 
had called togetlier some faithful friends and formally read to tliem a ))roteHt against 
the act lie was about to perform, insisting that, as a forced measure, it should bo 
considered null and void. Then, with the expressed expectation of breaking it, he 
signed tlu^ treaty, pledged to it the royal word, and confirmed that pledge with a 
aolenin oath. 

2 When Charles learned that the Pope was a prisoner, he ordered his court into 
mourning, and, with strange hypocrisy, directed prayers to be said for the release 
which he could have effected by a word. 



436 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1527. 

outrage was visited upon the unhappy Romans. Henry and 
Francis^ who were preparing to invade the Low Countries, 
changed the scene of war upon hearing of the Pope's cap- 
tivity, and the French troops, supported by English money, 
were sent under Lautrec to Rome. A fearful plague, which 
carried off conquerors as well as inhabitants, nad preceded 
them, and when they arrived, of all Bourbon's host, scarcely 
500 men survived to evacuate the city. 

Ladies' Peace (1529). — Ere long, however, the French 
met with their usual defeat in Italy 5 Andi-ea Doria, the 
famous Genoese patriot, going over to Charles, became admi- 
ral of the Spanish fleet ; and so Francis, anxious to recover 
his sons from the emperor, concluded a treaty. As it was 
negotiated by the king's mother and the emperoi^s aunt, it 
is known in history as the Ladies' Peace. 

The Turks. — Meanwhile Charles had found a new foe, 
and Francis a singular ally. The Turks, under Sultan Soly- 
man the Magnificent, using the cannon that breached the 
walls of Constantinople, had driven the Knights of St. John 
out of the Isle of Rhodes;^ subdued Egypt; devastated 
Hungary ; ^ and even appeared under the walls of Vienna 
(1529). Menaced thus, Charles, notwithstanding his Italian 
triumphs, was very willing to listen to the ladies, when, as we 
have seen, they talked of peace. Soon after, however, Soly- 



1 The knights made a gallant tlefeiise, a single man with his arquebus being said 
to have shot five hundred Turks. Tliirty-two Turkish mines were destroyed, but 
finally one burst, throwing down a part of the city wall. The Grand Master, L'Isle 
Adam, rushed from the church where he was at prayer, only to find the Crescent 
already planted in the opening. He instantly dashed into the midst of the Turks, 
tore down the standard, and, with his brave knights, drove tliem back. For thirty- 
four nights he slept in the breach. At last, sorely against his will, the Hospitallers 
agreed to surrender their stronghold. L'Isle Adam sailed away with the survivors. 
Cliarles gave him the rocky island of Malta. There he established a well-nigh im- 
pregnable fortress for the benefit of distressed seamen of every nation. 

2 The Hungarian king having been slain in tlio battle of 3roUac8 (1526), the crown 
ultimately fell to liis brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Austria, afterward emperor. It 
has ever since been held by the Archdukes of Austria (p. 385). 



1529.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 437 

man, having made an alliance with Francis, who cared less 
for differences of faith than for revenge upon the emijeror, 
raised a vast army, and, again wasting Hungary, threatened 
Vienna. The flower and strength of Germany ralHed under 
Charles's banners, and forced the infidel to an inglorious 
retreat. 

The emperor next sought to cripple the Turkish power by 
sea. Crossing the Mediterranean, he attacked Tunis, which 
Barbarossa, the Algerine pii'ate in command of Solyman's 
fleet, liad seized. In the midst of the desperate struggle 
that ensued, ten thousand Christian slaves, confined in the 
castle, broke their fetters, and tui-ned its gims upon then- 
masters. The city was carried by assault. The prison doors 
were opened, and the released captives were sent home, to 
the joy of all Christendom. 

The Pope finally mediated a truce between the rivals. 
Charles, while en route to Flanders, visited Paris. Francis, 
in an ecstasy of hospitality, exclaimed to his late enemy, 
^^ Here we are united, my brother and I. We must have the 
same foes and the same friends. We will equip a fleet 
against the Turks, and Andrea Doria shall be the comman- 
der." Brave words all, but soon forgotten. 

The emperor, thinking to blunt the edge of the Turkish 
saber by a second expedition against the African pirates, 
sailed to Algiers ; but his ships were destroyed by a storm, 
and his troops by a famine Francis seized the opportunity, 
and raised five great armies to attack Charles's wddespread 
empire. Solyman invaded Hungary, and Barbarossa ravaged 
the coasts of Spain and Italy. Europe was amazed to see the 
lilies of France and the crescent of Mohammed appear before 
Nice, and Christian captives sold by the corsairs in the mar- 
ket of Marseilles. It seemed as if the days of Martel had 
retui'ned, and there was again peril of a Mohammedan 



438 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1544. 

empire girding the Mediterranean; only the infidels were 
now l)rutal Turks instead of refined Saracens. 

Treaty of Crespy (1544). — Bnt this was not to be. 
Henry renewed his alliance with Charles, and they invaded 
France from opposite sides. Charles was beaten at Ceri- 
solles, but Henry pushed to within two days' march of 
Paris. Ali'eady its citizens, panic-struck, had begun to 
move their valuables to Rouen, when Francis sued for 
peace. The Treaty of Crespy ended the wars of these 
monarchs, that for nearly twenty-five years had been so 
fruitful of wrong and misery. 

2. AFFAIRS IN GERMANY. 

Political Contentions. — Germany has been defined at 

this period as " one confused mass of electorates, duchies, 
earldoms, bishoprics, abbeys, imperial free cities and estates 
of the nobility, which, whether great or small, refused to 
yield to one another, and jealously asserted their independ- 
ence." The result was a constant struggle and contention. 
The emperor and the states were unceasingly at variance 
concerning the administration of the laws and matters 
of revenue ; princes fought with one another over the ex- 
tension of territorial dignities; knights warred against 
princes over their respective rights, and, forming themselves 
into bodies of freebooters, made every highway a scene of 
robbery and murder; while the cities, whose wealth and 
influence excited the hatred of both knights and princes, 
were internally convulsed with bloody quarrels between 
civic authorities and the various guilds. Last of all, the 
peasantry, always chafing under their numerous grievances, 
broke out into occasional insurrections, which were char- 
acterized by shocking barbarities and quelled by equally 
merciless proceedings. 



1517.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 439 

Religious Crisis. — Up to this period, although from 
time to time serious doetrinal disputes liad arisen, each of 
which had left its bitter traces, the See of Rome had main- 
tained its jmisdiction over all the nations in western 
Europe. During the reign of Maximilian,^ however, a con- 
troversy was begun which was to lead to a division of 
Christendom into two conflicting and irreconcilable reli- 
gious parties. This general movement is known as The 
Refoymafion. 

Martin Luther's Theses. — There appeared one day 
on the cathedral door in Wittenberg a Latin document con- 
taining ninety-five theses, or propositions, in which Martin 
Luther,^ an Augustinian monk, challenged all learned men 
to a public controversy upon certain tenets and practices of 
his time. Printed copies of this document quickly found 
theii* way into every part of Germany, and awakened intense 
excitement. Bitter controversies followed, and in the same 
year that Charles was elected emperor the ban of excom- 
munication was pronounced against Luther unless he should 
retract his doctrines. Luther repUed by publicly burning 
the papal buU. The schism had now become extreme. 



1 Maximilian was brave, handsome, learned, of powerful frame, and gentle tem- 
per. "In him," sa5's Kohlrausch, " was personified for the last time chivahy iu all 
its glory." His financial perplexities are prominent features in the history of his 
reign. As he was always in straits for money wlien a critical moment arrived, he 
has been given the title of " The Penniless." At tliis time most of the revenues for- 
merlj' enjoyed by the Crown were claimed by the estates, and even so insignificant a 
levy for the imperial treasury as tlie penny-tax, viz., the payment by each subject of 
one penny for every thousand pence possessed, was stoutlj' contested. This chronic 
lack of funds seriously afifected the success of Maximilian's many projects. 

^ Martin Lutlier was born 1483; died, 1546. His fatlier was a poor wood-cutter, 
and at fifteen Martin became a " wandering scholar" (see p. 476) in Eisenach, earn- 
ing his bread, after tlu; custom of tlieday, by singing in the streets. His diligence, 
studiousness, and sweet voice won tlie boj' many friends, and finally, liis father be- 
coming able to aid him, he finished his education at the Univorsitj' of Krfurt. The 
reading of a Bible, then a rare book, and lu-nce chained to a desk in tbe librarj', 
awakened liis thouglit, and, against his father's wish, he entered an Augustine mon- 
astery. In 1508 he was appointed professor in the University of Wittenberg, just 
founded by the Elector Frederick of Saxony. 



440 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1521. 



The Diet of Worms (1521).— The emperor Charles 
held his first diet at Worms. Thither Luther was sum- 
moned to answer for his heresy. All attempts to induce 




him to recant were fruitless. He was therefore denounced 
as a heretic, and he and his supporters were put under the 
ban of the empire.^ 

1 Charles had publicly declared during the diet that he was " determined to em- 
ploy all his kingdom, friends, body, blood, and even life, to prevent this godless un- 
dertaking from spreading." But he had already promised Luther a safe-conduct, 
and when he was urged to break his word, and not allow Luther to leave the city, 
he nobly replied, "No! I do not mean to blush like Sigismund" (p. 386). Luther's 
friends, however, feared for his safety, and by order of one of his stanchest support- 
ers, the Elector Frederick, he was secretly conveyed to the lonely castle of the Wart- 
burg, where he staid nearly a year. Here lie began the translation of the Bible into 
German,— a work which, aided by Melauchthon and other scholars, occupied him for 
several years. Up to this time there was no language accepted throughout tlio 
empire. The learned wrote in Latin ; the minnesingers, in Swabian ; and many used 
the dialects,— Saxon, Franconian, etc. Luther, passing by the diction of the theologi- 



1529.] THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 441 

Alter the diet, Cluirles left Gerniany, and, absorbed in his 
gi'eat struggle with Francis, did not return for nine years. 

Meanwhile the new doctrines rapidly spread ^ into north- 
ern Germany, France, Switzerland,'^ England, Scotland, 
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Teutonic nations, 
with a few exceptions, finally adopted them in some form, 
while the Latin nations remained faithful to the Chnrch 
of Rome. 

Lutherans called Protestants (1529). — Archduke 
Ferdinand, alarmed by the progress of the reformers under 
Luther and of the Turks under Solyman, called a diet at 
Spires. The Catholics, being in the majority, passed a 
decree forbidding any fiu^ther change in religion. The 
Lutheran princes and cities formally i^rotested against this 
action, — whence they were called Protestants. 

The Ladies' Peace now giving Charles leisure, he revisited 
Germany, and held a diet at Augsburg.^ A statement of the 

cal schools and the courts, sought the expressive idioms employed by the people. 
For this purpose he visited the market place and social gatherings, often spending 
days over a single x)hrase. No sentence was admitted into the translation untU. it had 
crystallized into pure, idiomatic German. The Bible soon became the model of 
style; and its High-German, the standard of cultivated conversation and polite 
literature. 

1 Princes and cities, vexed at the money drained from their people by the Roman 
pontiff, and quite willuig to secure the vast possessions of the Church, saw tlieir inter- 
ests Ij'ing along the line of the new faitli. So " policy was more Lutheran than reli- 
gious reform," and they eagerly seized upon this opportunity to emancipate themselves 
at once from emperor and Pope. Thus tlie Reformation gradually became a struggle 
for political power quite as much as for religious freedom. 

2 Switzerland had its own reformation. Zwingle, the leader, was more radical 
than Lutlier. He wished to purifj' State as well as Church. After his death in battle 
tlie people of Geneva invited thither the great French reformer, Calvin. Ecclesiasti- 
cal courts were established, and a rigid discipline was enforced that reached to the 
minutest detail of life. Under this despotic rule, Geneva became the most moral city 
in Europe, and the home of letters and orthodoxy. Calvin's doctrines, more than 
those of any other reformer, molded men's minds. The Huguenots, tlie Dutch Wal- 
loons, the Scotch Presbyterians, and the New England Puritans, all were stamped 
with his type of thought. 

3 Charles was entertained at the splendid mansion of Anthony Fugger, a famous 
merchant-prince of Augsburg. At the close of the visit, the host invited the emperor 
into his study, and there threw upon a fire of cinnamon— then a very costly spice— the 
bonds which Charles had given him for loans to carry on his wars with Francis. 



442 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1530. 

Protestant doctrine was here read which afterward became 
famous as the Augsburg Confession^ — the creed of the Ger- 
man reformers. Instead of with one monk, as at Worms, 
Charles had now to deal with haK of Germany. But he 
again denounced the heresy, and put all who held it under 
the ban of the empire. 

Smalcaldic League (1531). — The Protestant princes 
organized at Smalcald for mutual protection. But Soly- 
man having once more marched upon Vienna, Charles, in 
the face of this peril, granted the reformers liberty of con- 
science. Forthwith the Protestants and Catholics gathered 
under the imperial banner, and the Turks hastily retreated. 
Charles now left Germany for another nine-years' absence. 

Smalcaldic War (1546-47). — The Treaty of Crespy free- 
ing Charles from further fear of Francis, he determined to 
crush the Reformation. The Council of Trent (1545-G3) 
was called ; but the Protestants, taking no part in the deliber- 
ations, rejected its decrees. Meanwhile civil war broke out. 
The Protestant leaders were irresolute. Prince Maurice of 
Saxony, deserting his fellow-reformers, joined Charles, and 
overran the territory of his cousin the Elector Frederick. 
The league fell to pieces. Only Frederick and Philip, the 
landgrave of Hesse, remained in the field. Charles, bold 
and wary as ever, defeated and captured the former, while 
Maurice persuaded the latter, his father-in-law, to siu-render. 

Charles's Triumph now seemed complete. The boldest 
Protestant leaders were in prison. The sword of Francis 
and the pen of Luther were both relics of the past. Ger- 
many was at last prostrate before her Spanish lord. A 
proud and haughty conqueror,^ he brought Spanish infantry 

1 History, however, records some noble traits in Charles's character. Visiting 
Luther's grave, one of his attendants urged that the body of the reformer should be 
dug up and burned. The chivalrous emperor replied, "No I I make war on the living, 
not on the dead." 



1548.] 



THE AGE OF CHARLES V. 443 



to overawe the disaffected ; forced upon the unwilling people 
the Interim, — a compromise between the two religions, which 
was hateful to both Catholics and Protestants ; and sought 
to have the succession taken from his brother Ferdinand, 
and given to his son, — the cold and gloomy Philip. 

Maurice revolts. — At this juncture the man who won 
Charles the victory undid his work. Maurice, impatient of 
the name " traitor," and indignant at the continued impris- 
onment of his father-in-law, organized a revolt, and made 
an alliance with Henry II. of France. 

Treaty of Passau. — Suddenly the confederates took 
the field. Henry seized Toul, Verdun, and the strong fortress 
of Metz, without striking a blow. To escape from Maurice, 
the emperor at Innsbruck fled through the stormy night 
along the mountain-paths of the Tyrol. ^ The Council of 
Trent broke up in dread. Charles was forced to bend, and^ 
by the Treatij of Fassaii (1552), the captive princes were 
released and religious toleration was partially secured. 

Charles's Abdication (1556). — Imperial disasters now 
followed fast. Charles tried to recover Metz, but was de- 
feated by the Duke of Guise, — a French leader then new to 
fame. The Turkish fleet ravaged the coast of Italy. The 
Pope, offended by the toleration granted the Protestants, 
made an alliance with Henry of France. Charles, sad, 
disappointed, and baffled, laid down the crown.^ His son 



1 Maurice, if he had deemed it xvolitic, could have prevented the escape, but, as 
the emperor himself ouce said, " Some birds are too big for any cage,"— a truth that 
Charles well learued after the battle of Pavia. 

2 He thus followed the famous example of Diocletian (p. 263). After his retire- 
ment Charles went to the monastery of St. Just in Spain. Though only fifty-six, hav- 
ing been born in the same year witli liis ceutury, he was prematurely old,— the victim 
of glutton J'. Now, shut in by groves of oak and chestnut and under the shadow of the 
lofty mountains, the late emperor joined the monks in their religious exercises, or 
amused liimself by various mechanical contrivances,— the making of watches and 
curious little puppets. Unable, however, to absorb him.self in his new life, he eagerly 
watched the tidings of the busy world he had left behind. One day the morbid fancy 

BGH— 26 



444 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1556. 

Philip 11. , husband of Mary, Queen of England, received 
Spain, the Netherlands, and the Two Sicilies; while Fer- 
dinand of Austria was chosen emperor. 

End of the War. — Philip for a time continued the 
struggle with France, and won the battle of St. Quentin 
(1557) ;i but Guise's capture of Calais from the English, 
who had held it over two centuries, consoled the French. 
The Treaty of Cdteau-Cambresis (1559) closed the long con- 
test, and emphasized the division of Europe into Catholic 
and Protestant nations. 

The Condition of Germany during the remainder of the 16th 
century was that of mutual fear and suspicion. The Calvinists were 
excluded from the Treaty of Passau, and the feeling between them and 
the Lutherans was as bitter as between both and the Catholics. The 
different parties watched one another with growing dislike and doubt, 
every rustling leaf awakening fresh suspicion. Minor divisions arose 
among the Protestants. Each petty court had its own school of theo- 
logians, and the inspiration of the early reformers degenerated into 
wrangles about petty doctrines and dogmas. No true national life could 
exist in such an atmosphere. Ferdinand I. and his successor, Maximil- 
ian 11. , managed to hold the unsteady balance between the conflicting 
parties; but under Budolph II., Catholic and Protestant leagues were 
formed. Mattliias got his cousin Ferdinand chosen king of Hungary 
and Bohemia ; on the death of Matthias, Ferdinand II. was elected em- 
peror (1619). He was a bitter foe of the Reformation, and the closing 
of two Protestant churches (1618) in his territory proved the signal 
for the Thirty-Years' War (p. 480). 

seized liira to have liis funeral services performed. He took part in the solemn 
pageant, standing by the side of his emptj' coffin, holding a torch, and chanting a 
dirge. The real death and funeral followed within three weeks (1558). 

1 When Charles, in his retirement, heard of this victory, he exclaimed, " Is not 
my son now in Paris?" Philip, however, derived no advantage from it, except the 
glory of the day and the plan of the huge palace of the Escurial, which is builtin paral- 
lel rows like the bars of a gridiron, in memory of St. Lawrence, on whose day the bat- 
tle was fought, and whose martyrdom consisted in being broiled over a slow fire. 



RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 



445 



III. RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 

The Netherlands, now Holland and Bid^um, by the 
marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian, fell to the 
House of Hapsburg. Wlien her grandson resigned these 
pro\dnces to Philip, they formed the richest possession of 
the Spanish Crown. The looms of Flanders were world- 
renowned. The manufactories of Ghent had one hundred 
thousand artisans. In the Scheldt at Antwer}) twenty-five 
hundred ships were often to be seen Avaiting their tiu-n to 
come to the wharfs, while five thousand merchants daily 
thronged the city exchange. 




Protestantism had made great progress among the 
Netherlanders. Phihp, who declared that he would rather 
be no king than to reign over heretics, sought to crush the 



446 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1567. 

new doctrines by the terrors of the Inquisition. ^ The peo- 
ple resisted. Tmnults arose, and many beautiful cathedrals 
were sacked by the mob.^ 

The Duke of Alva was now sent thither with an army 
of Spanish veterans (1567). Within six years Alva and his 
di'eaded Council of Blood put to death eighteen thousand 
persons, and passed sentence of death upon the entire popu- 
lation. Thousands of workmen, fleeing in terror, carried 
to England the manufactimng skill of Bruges and Ghent. 

Meanwhile, William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, known 
in history as The Silent, took the field in defense of his per- 
secuted countrymen. Then began their 

Forty- Years' War (1568-1609) for freedom. This long 
struggle is memorable in history on account of the heroic 
defense the cities made against the Spanish armies.^ The 

1 A deputation of aobles to piotest against this measure was styled bj^ a scornful 
courtier a " Pack of Beggars." Tliis being reported to tlie nobles at a banquet, one 
of them liung about his neck a beggar's wallet, and all drank to the toast, "Long 
live the beggars ! " The name became thenceforth their accepted title. 

2 The Netherlands possessed an extraordinarj^ number of magnificent cathedrals, 
adorned with valuable paintings, statues, and the costly gifts of many worshiping 
generations. In the short space of a Aveek nearly every one of these temples had 
been invaded and the priceless treasures destroyed. 

3 Haarlem was besieged by Don Frederick, Alva's son, in 1572. Having breached 
the defenses, he ordered an assault. Forthwith the church bells rang the alarm. 
Men and women flocked to the walls. Thence they showered upon the besieg- 
ers stones and boiling oil, and dexterouslj'' threw down over tlieir necks hoops 
dripping with burning pitch. Spanish courage and ferocity shrunk back appalled at 
such a determined resistance by an entire population. Don Frederick then took 
to mining; the citizens countermined. Spaniard and Netherlander met in deadly 
conflict within passages dimly lighted by lanterns, and so narrow that the daggei 
onlj' could be used. At times, showers of mingled stones, earth, and human bodies 
sliot high into the air, as if from some concealed volcano. The Prince made several 
futile attempts to relieve the city. In one of these, John Haring sprung upon a narrow 
dike, and alone held in check one thousand of the enemy until his friends made good 
their escape, when, Horatiuslike, he leaped into the sea, and swam off unliarmed 
Hope of rescue finally failed the besieged, and then famine added to their horrors 
Dogs, cats, and mice were devoured; shoe-leather was soaked and eaten; whilw 
gaunt specters wandered to and fro, eagerly seizing the scattered spires of grass and 
weeds, to allay tlie torment of hunger. In the last extremity, tlie soldiers proposed 
to form a hollow square, put the women and children in the center, fire the city, and 
then cut their way out. The seven-months' siege had taught tlie Spaniards the issue 
of such a struggle of despair, and they offered terms of surrender. But when Alva's 
legions were inside the walls, he forgot all save revenge, butchered garrison and citi- 



MAP TO ILLUSTRATE 

WAIIS IN I JliVNCE 

THE NETHERLANDS 

OR LOW COUNTRIES 
AND THE 

. Civil. WAllS IX ENGLAND 




*t«U<IURt, ICIKOtl^ CO.. 1J>CI.. il 



448 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1576. 

Silent One, mth his devotion to duty, constancy in adversity, 
and niarvelons statesmanship, is the central fig^u'e of the 
contest. In 1576 (two centuries before our 76) he united 
the provinces in a leagiie called the Facijication of Ghent. 
But the northern and the southern pro^dnces were unlike 
in race and rehgion. The former were Teutonic, and 
mostly Protestant; the latter, Celtic, and largely Catholic. 
Jealousies arose. The league fell in pieces. WiUiam then 
formed the seven northern provinces into the Union of 
Utrecht, — ^the foundation of the Dutch Republic. The Prince 
was chosen first stallholder. 

Philip, the gloomy tyrant of the Esciu'ial, having set a 
price upon William's head, this patriot leader was assassi- 
nated (1584). When the sad news flew thi-ough Holland, 
even the httle childi*en wept in the streets. 

Maurice of Nassau, the Prince's second son, was chosen 
in his father's place. Though only in his seventeenth year, 
he proved to be a rare general ; while at his side stood the 

zeus alike, and, when the executioners were weary, tied three hundred wretches 
together, two by two, back to back, and hurled them into the lake. 

Leydeu was besieged by Valdez in 1574. A chain of sixty-two forts cut off all 
communication, except by means of carrier pigeons, which. Hying high in f;r, 
bore tidings between the Prince and the city. (The stuffed skins of these faithful 
messengers are still preserved in the town hall.) Soon famine came, more bitter 
even, if possible, than that at Haarlem. The starving crowd was at last driven to the 
burgomaster, demanding food or a surrender. " I have sworn not to yield," was the 
heroic reply ; " but take my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh 
among you." These words raised their courage anew, and, clambering upon the walls, 
they took their places again, calling out to the enemy in defiance, " Before we give up, 
we will eat our left anus to give strength to our right." The Prince had no army to 
send to their relief ; but the Sea Beggars were outside pacing tlie decks of their ships, 
and chating at the delay. For though the patriots, crying out that "a drowned 
land is better than a lost land," had cut the dikes to let in the ocean upon their fertile 
lielils, the water was too shallow to float the fleet. One night the tempest came. 
Tlie waters of the North Sea were piled high on the Holland coast. The waves, 
driven by a west wind, swept irresistibly over the land. Tlie ships, loaded with 
food, were borne to the very walls of the city. The Spaniards, dismayed by the 
incoming ocean, fled in terror. The happy people flocked with their deliverers to 
the cathedral, to pour out tlieir thanksgiving to God. Prayer was oftered, and then 
a hymn begun ; but the tide of emotion rose too high, and, checking the song, the 
vast audience wept together tears of joy and gratitude. Read Motley's account in 
the Rise of the Dutch Republic. 



]r)S4.] RISE OP THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 449 

skillful diplomat and devoted patriot, John of Barneveld. 
In time ]:>otli France and En<^land ])ecame allies of the states, 
and took part in the struggle (pp. 453, 4G4). 

The Dutch Sailors early won great renown. Their light, 
active ships beat the clumsy Spanish galleons, alike in trade 
and war. A Dutch Indiaman would sail to the Antipodes 
and back while a Portuguese or a Spaniard was making the 
outward voyage. The East India Company, founded in 
1602, conquered islands and kingdoms in Asia, and can-ied 
on a lucrative trade with China and Japan. Spain and 
Portugal, pioneers in the East, now bought spices, silks, 
and gems of Holland merchants. 

Result of the War. — The King of Spain, then Philip III., 
was finally forced to grant a truce, in which he treated with 
the seven United Provinces as if free ; though he refused 
formally to acknowledge their independence until the Treaty 
of Westphalia (p. 485). The southern or Belgian pro\dnces 
remained in the possession of Spain. 

Free Holland now took her place among the nations. 
Her fields bloomed Hke a garden ; her shops rang with the 
-xotes of industry ; and her harbors bristled with masts. In 
the 17th century she was a power in the European States- 
System, and her aUiance was eagerly courted ; while Spain 
fell so rapidly that foreign princes arranged for a di\dsion 
of her territory without consulting her sovereign.^ 

1 By the expulsion of the remaining Moors, Philip III. drove out of Spain six 
hundred thousand of her most industrious and thrifty citizens, transferred to other 
countries five sixths of her commerce and manufactures, and reduced the revenue 
over one half. The nation never recovered from this impolitic and unjust act. It 
should be remembered, however, that persecution was the spirit of the age. Even 
the mild Isabella consented to expel the Jews, to the number of one hundred and 
sixty thousand; and though this edict caused untold misery, yet at the time it was 
lauded a'? a signal instance of piety. Toleration was not understood, even by the 
reformers of Germany or England, and all parties believed that it was right to 
punish, 01 , if necessary, to bum a man's body, in order to save his soul. 



450 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



IV. CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 



Protestantism took deep root in France, especially 
among tlie nobility. Though Francis I. and Henry II. aided 
the German reformers in order to weaken Charles V., to 
schism at home they showed no mercy. By the treaties of 
Crespy and Catean-Cambresis they were pledged to stamp 
ont the new i-eligion. Francis relentlessly persecuted the 

Vaudois, a simple moun- 
tain folk of the Pied- 
mont; Henry celebrated 
the coronation of his wife, 
Catharine de' Medici, 
with a bonfire of heretics, 
and sought to establish 
the Inquisition in France, 
as had been done in the 
Netherlands. In spite 
of persecution, however, 
Calvinist prayers and 
hymns were heard even 
in the royal palace. The 
Huguenots — as the Protestants were called — began to claim 
the same rights that their German brethren had secured at 
Passau. Denied these, they organized a revolt. During the 
reigns of Henry II.'s three sons, Francis II., Charles IX., 
and Henry III., who successively came to the throne, France 
was convulsed by the horrors of civil war. 

The Leaders. — Tlie Catholic leaders were the Con- 
stable Montmorenci, and the two Guises, — Francis the 
Duke, and Jiis brother, the Cardinal^ of Lorraine. They 
were supported by the Church and Spain. 




CATHARINE DE' MEDICI. 



1559.] CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 



451 




ADMIRAL COUOXY. 



At the head of the 
Hugiienots stood the 
King of Navarre and 
the Prince of Conde, — 
both Bourbons claim- 
ing descent from St. 
Louis, — and Admiral 
Coligny, nephew of 
Montmorenci. They 
were befriended by the 
reformers of Germany, 
England, and the Neth- 
erlands. 

The Situation. — The remaining kings of the Valois line 
were young, weak, and unfit to contend with the profound 
questions and violent men of the time. The Bourbons hated 
the Guises, and each plotted the other's ruin. Catharine, 
a wily, heartless Italian, moving between the factions like a 
spirit of evil, schemed for power. Her maxim was, " Di\dde 
and govern." She cared little for religion, but opposed 
the Huguenots because their aristocratic leaders sought to 
strengthen the nobles at the expense of the king. Thus 
political mingled with religious motives, and the struggle 
was quite as much for the triumph of rival chiefs as for 
that of any form of faith. 

Francis II. (1559-00), a sickly boy of sixteen, fascinated 
by the charms of his girl- wife, the beautiful Mary Queen of 
Scots, was ruled, through her, by her uncles, the Guises. 
The Bourbons planned to remove the king from their influ- 
ence. The Guises detected the plot, and took a ferocious 
revenge. Conde himself escaped only by the king's sudden 
death. Mary returned to Scotland to work out her sad 
destiny (p. 463). 



452 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1560. 



Charles IX. (1560-74), a child-king of ten, was now 
pushed to the front. Catharine, as regent/ tried to hold the 
balance between the two parties. But the Cathohcs, becom- 
ing exasperated, resented every concession to the Hugue- 
nots ; while the Huguenots, growing exultant, often inter- 
rupted the worship and broke the images in the Catholic 

churches. One Sunday 
(1562) the Duke of Guise 
was riding through Vassy 
as a Huguenot congre- 
gation were gathering for 
worship. His attendants, 
sword in hand, fell upon 
the Protestants. This 
massacre was the open- 
ing scene in 

A Series of Eight Civil 
Wars, which, interrupted 
by seven short and un- 
steady treaties of peace, 
lasted, in all, over thirty 

HENRY, DUKE OF GUISE. ' ' "^ 

years. Plots, murders, 
treacheries, thickened fast. Guise was assassinated ; Conde 
was shot in cold blood. Navarre and Montmorenci, more 
fortunate, f eU in battle. Guise was succeeded by his brother 
Henry, while Navarre's place was taken by his gaUant son, 
afterward Henry lY. 

The Treaty of St. Germain, the third lull of hostilities in 
this bloody series, gave promise of permanence. Charles 




1 It is noticeable that about this time a large part of Europe was governed by- 
women,— England, by Elizabeth ; Spain, by Juana, princess regent ; the Netherlands, 
by Margaret of Parma, acting as regent for Philip ; Navarre, by Queen Jano ; Scot- 
land, by Mary ; and Portugal, by the regent-mother, Catharine of Austria, sister of 
Charles V. 



1572.] CIVIL-RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 453 

offered his sister Margaret in marriage to Henry of Navarre. 
The principal Huguenots Hocked to Paris to witness the 
wedding festivities. Cohgny won the confidence of the 
king, aiid an army was sent to aid the reformers in the 
Netherlands. Catharine, seeing her power waning, resolved 
to assassinate Coligny. The attempt failed; the Hugue- 
nots swore revenge. In alarm, Catharine with her friends 
decided to crush the Huguenot party at one horrible blow. 
With difficulty, Charles was persuaded to consent to 

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew (August 24, 1572). 
Before daybreak the impatient Catharine gave the signal. 
Instantly hghts gleamed from the windows. Bands of 
murderers thronged the streets. Guise himself hurried to 
Cohguy's house ; his attendants rushed in, found the old 
man at praj^er, stabbed him to death, and threw his body 
from the window, that Guise might feast his eyes upon his 
fallen enemy. Everywhere echoed the cry, " Kill ! kiU ! " 
The slaughter went on for days. In Paris alone hundreds of 
persons perished ; while in the provinces each city had its 
own St. Bartholomew. 

Result. — The Huguenots, dazed for a moment, flew to 
arms with the desperation of despair. Many moderate 
Catholics joined them. Charles, unable to banish from his 
eyes the horrible scenes of that fatal night, died at last a 
victim of remorse. 

Henry III. (1574-89) next ascended the throne. Friv- 
olous and vicious, he met with contempt on every side. The 
violent CathoHcs formed a "League to extu*pate Heresy." 
Its leader was the Duke of Guise, who now threatened to 
become another Pepin to a second Childeric. The king had 
this dangerous rival assassinated in the royal cabinet. Paris 
rose in a frenzy at the death of its idol. Henry fled for 
protection to the Huguenot camp. A fanatic, instigated by 



454 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1589. 



Guise's sister, entered liis tent and stabbed the monarch to 
the heart. Thus ended the Valois line.^ 

Henry of Navarre (1589-1610) now became king as 
Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon House (p. 355). To 
crush the League, however, took five years more of war. 
The crisis came at Ivry, where the Huguenots followed 
Henry's white plume to a signal victory. Finally, in order 
to end the struggle, he abjured the Protestant rehgion. 
The next year he was crowned at Paris (1594). 

Henrifs Administration brought to France a sweet calm 
after the tui-moil of war. By the Edict of Nantes (1598), 

he granted toleration to the 
Huguenots. With his fa- 
mous minister. Sully, he re- 
stored the finances, erected 
public edifices, built ships, 
encouraged silk manufacture, 
and endowed schools and 
libraries. The common peo- 
ple found in him a friend, 
and he often declared that 
he should not be content 
until "the poorest peasant 
in his reahn had a fowl for 
his pot every Sunday." This 
prosperous reign was cut short by the dagger of the assas- 
sin RavaiUac (1610). 

1 It is a house distinguisliedfor misfortunes. Every raouarch save one (Charles V.) 
left a record of loss or shame. Philip VI. was defeated at Sluj^s and Cr6cy, and lost 
Calais. John, beaten at Poitiers, died a prisoner in England. Charles VI., conquered 
at Agincourt, was forced to acknowledge the English monarch heir of his kingdom. 
Charles VII. owed his crown to a peasant girl, and finally starved himself for fear of 
poisoning by his son. Louis XI., taken prisoner by Burgundy, was for days in danger 
of execution; he died hated by all. Charles VIII. and Louis XII. met reverses in 
Italy. Francis I. was taken prisoner at Pavia. Henry II. suffered the sting of the 
defeat at St. Quentin, and was slain in a tilting match. Francis II. fortunately died 
young. Charles IX. perished with the luemory of St. Bartholomew resting upon 
him; and Henry III. was murdered. 




ENGLAND UN D Eli THE TfTDORf^. 455 

V. ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS (1485-1603). 

The Tudor Rule covered, in general, the sixteenth 
century. Then began the era of absohitism, such as Louis 
XI. had introduced into France, but which was cm-bed in 
England l\y the Charter, Parliament, and the free spirit of 
the people. The characteristic features of the period were 
the rise of Protestantism, the growth of commerce, and the 
development of learning and literature. 

TABLE OF THE TUDOR LINE. 

HEXKY VII. (1485-1509), m. KIJZABETH OF YORK. 

I 



! I 

MakoaKKT. HENUY VIII. (1509-47). 

1 I 

I III 

James V. of Scotland. Edward vi. (1547). Mary (1553). Elizabeth (1558). 

Mary Queen of Scots. 

I 
James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England. Stuart Line (p. 494). 

1. Henry VII. (1485-1509), hailed king on the field of 
Bosworth, by his marriage with Elizabeth of York blended 
the roses (p. 346). The ground-swell of the ci\il war, how- 
ever, still agitated the country. Two impostors claimed the 
throne. Both were put down after much bloodshed. Hen- 
ry's ruling trait was avarice. Promising to invade France, 
he secnred supplies from Parliament, extorted from wealthy 
persons gifts, — cm-iously termed " benevolences/' ^ — crossed 
the Channel, made peace (secretly negotiated from the first) 
with Charles VIII. for £149,000, and returned home enriched 
at the expense of friend and foe. He punished the nobles 
with fines on every pretext, and his lawyers revived musty 
edicts and forgotten tenui-es in order to fill the royal coffers 
under the guise of law. 

1 'His favorite mini.ster, Morton, devised a dilemma known a.s "Morton'.s fork," 
since a ricii man was sure to he caught on one tine or the other. A frugal person 
was asked for money because he must have saved much, and an extravagant one 
because he had much to spend. 



456 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1502. 

Henry's t3n:"anny, however, reached only the great. He 
gave rest to the people. He favored the middle classes, and, 
by permitting the poorer nobles to sell their lands regard- 
less of the " entail," enabled prosperons merchants to buy 
estates. He also encouraged commerce, and under his 
patronage the Cabots explored the coast of America. 

In 1502 Henry's daughter Margaret was married to James 
IV. of Scotland. This wedding of the rose and the thistle 
paved the way to the union of the two kingdoms under 
the Stuarts, a century later. 

2. Henry VIII. (1509-47) at eighteen succeeded to the 
throne and his father's wealth. For the first time since 
Richard II., the king had a clear title to the crown. Young, 
handsome, witty, fond of sport, and skillful in arms. Bluff 
King Hal, as he was caUed, was, in the first years of his 
reign, the most popular king in English history. 

Foreign Relations. — ^While Henry was winning the battle 
of the Spurs (p. 432), Scotland as usual sided with France. 
James IV., though Henry's brother-in-law, invaded England. 
But on Flodden Field (1513) he was slain with the flower of 
the Scots. Soon England came, as we have seen, to hold 
the balance of power between Charles V. and Francis I. 
Lest either should grow too strong, Henry always took 
the part of the one who happened at the time to be the 
weaker. Such wars brought no good to any one. 

Thomas Wolsey, the son of a butcher, who rose from a 
priest to be Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor of Eng- 
land, Cardinal, and Papal I^egate, was Henry's minister. 
He hved with almost royal splendor. His household com- 
prised 500 nobles, and he was attended everywhere by a train 
of the first barons of the land. The direction of foreign 
and domestic affau's rested with him. As chancellor, he 
administered justice ; as legate, he controlled the Church. 



i 



1533.] 



ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 



457 



Catharine^ s Divorce. — For nearly twenty years Henry 
lived happily mth his wife, Catharine of Aragon, widow of 
his elder brother, and aunt of Charles V. But of their 
childi^en, Mary, a sickly girl, alone survived. Should Henry 
leave no son, the 
royal succession 
would be imper- 
iled, as no woman 
had as yet occu- 
pied the throne. 
The recent civil war 
emphasized this 
di'ead. Henry pro- 
fessed to fear that 
the death of his 
children was a 
judgment upon him 
for having married 
his brother's wid- 
ow. His scruples 
were quickened, 
perhaps even sug- 
gested, by the 
charms of Anne Boleyn, a beautiful maid of honor. Hemy 
accordingly applied to Pope Clement VII. for a divorce, 
alleging the stings of his conscience as a reason therefor. 
The Pope hesitated, and the aifair dragged on for years. 
The universities and learned men at home and abroad 
were consulted. At last Henry privately married Anne. 
Thomas Cranmer,^ who had been appointed Ai'chbishop of 




PORTRAITS OF HENRY VIII. AND CARDINAL WOLSEY. 



1 It is curious that the four most remarkable men of Henry's administration— 
Wolsey, Cranmer, Cromwell, and More— all had the same ffiven name, Thomas, and 
all were executed except Wolsey, who escaped the scaffold only by death. 



458 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1533. 

Canterbury on account of his zeal in the king's cause, then 
pronounced Catharine's marriage illegal (1533). The for- 
saken wife died three years later. But more than the fate of 
queen or maid of honor was concerned in this royal whim, 

Wolsefs Fall (1530). — Wolsey, as legate, had hesitated to 
declare a divorce without the papal sanction. Henry, brook- 
ing no opposition, determined on his minister's disgrace. 
Stripped of place and power, the old man was banished 
from the court. Soon after, he was arrested for treason; 
while on his way to prison he died, broken-hearted at his 
faU.i 

Breach with Borne. — Henry had no sympathy with the 
Reformation. Indeed, he had wi'itten a book against Lu- 
thei-'s doctrines, for which he had received, as a reward 
from the Pope, the title of the Defender of the Faith. 
But Cromwell, who after Wolsey's fall became Henry's chief 
minister, advised the king not to trouble himself about the 
papal decision, but to deny the Pope's supremacy. Link by 
link the chain that had so long bound England to Rome 
was broken. Parhament declared Anne's marriage legal, 
forbade appeals or payments to the Pope, and acknowledged 
the king as supreme head of the English Church.^ AU who 
refused to take the Oath of Supremacy were proclaimed 
guilty of high treason.*^ The monasteries were suppressed, 

1 His last words, as given almost literally by Sliakspere, have become famous : 

" O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king. He would not in my age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies."— Henry VIII., Act III., Scene 2, 

2 This iiosition gave Henry au almost sacred character. Parliament directed that, 
within certain limits, his i)roclamatious should have the force of law; and, at the 
simple mention of his name, that body rose and bowed to his vacant throne. 

3 The heads of the noblest in England now rolled upon the scaffold. Among those 
who suffered death were John Fisher, the venerable Bishop of Rochester, believed 
by many to have been the real author of Henry's book ; and Sir Thomas More, a man 
of great wit and brilliant intellect, who was lord chancellor for a time after Wol- 
sey's fall. Both these men agreed to support tlie succession, but would not deny 
the validity of Catharine's marriage or the supremacy of the Pope. 



1539.] 



ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 



459 



and their vast estates confiscated. A part of their revenues 
was spent in founding schools, Ijut the larger share was 
lavished upon the king's favorites. 




THE CHAINED BIBLE. 
(Scene in a Church Porch, 16th Century.,' 

Tlie Six Articles. — A copy of the Bible, translated by 
Tyndale and revised by Coverdale, was ordered to be chained 
to a pillar or desk in every church. Crowds of the common 
people flocked around to hear its truths read to them in 
their mother-tongue. Henry drew up the famous Six Ai-ti- 
cles of Religion for the Church of England.^ But, with his 
usual fickleness, he afterward pubUshed in succession two 
books, each giving to the nation a different creed, and 

1 Pox wittily termed this statute " The whip with six strings." 



460 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. [1536. 

finally restricted to merchants and gentlemen the royal per- 
mission to read the Bible. Both Protestants and CathoHcs 
were persecuted with great impartiality; the former for 
rejecting Henry's doctrines, and the latter for denying his 
supremacy. 

Henrifs Six Wives. — Anne Boleijn wore her coveted 
crown only three years. A charge of unfaithfulness brought 
her to the scaffold within less than five months from the 
death of the discarded Catharine (1536). The very day after 
Anne's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, a maid of 
honor whose pretty face had caught his changeful fancy; 
she died the following year. His foin*th wife was Anne of 
Cleves, a Protestant princess. Her plain looks disappointed 
the king, who had married her by proxy, and he soon 
obtained a divorce by act of Parliament. CromweU had 
arranged this match, and the result cost him his head. 
Henry next married Catharine Howard, but her bad con- 
duct was punished by death. The last of the series was 
Catharine Farr, a widow, who, to the surprise of aU, man- 
aged to keep her head upon her shoulders until the king 
died in 1547. 

3. Edward VI. (1547-53), son of Jane Seymour, as- 
cended the throne in his tenth year. The Duke of Somerset 
became regent. 

The Ecclesiastical Changes which had begun by the sev- 
erance from Rome were continued. Archbishop Cranmer, 
seconded by Bishops Ridley and Latimer, was foremost in 
shaping the changes in ceremony and doctrine that gave to 
the English Church a Protestant form. The Latin mass 
was abolished. The pictures and statues in the churches 
were destroyed. The Book of Common Prayer was com- 
piled, and the faith of the Anglican Church summed up in 
the Forty-two (now Thirty-nine) Articles of Religion. 



1552.J ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 461 

The Duke of Northumberland, having brought Somerset 
to the scaffold, for a time ruled England. He persuaded 
Edward to set aside his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, 
who were next in the succession according to the will of 
Henry VIII., and to leave the crown to his cousin. Lady 
Jane Grey, the young wife of Lord Dudley, — Northumber- 
land's son. Soon after, the gentle and studious Edward 
died. 

4. Mary (1553-58), however, was the people's choice, and 
she became the first queen-regnant of England. Lady Jane, 
a charming gui of sixteen, who found her greatest delight in 
reading Plato in the window-corner of a Library, though pro- 
claimed by Northumberland against her wish, was sent to the 
Tower ; a year afterward, on the rising of her friends, she 
and her husband were beheaded. As an ardent Catholic, 
Mary sought to reconcile England to the Pope. The laws 
favoring the Protestants were repealed, and a number of 
persons were bm-ned as heretics. Among these were Cran- 
mer, Latimer, and Ridley. The queen was married to her 
cousin, afterward Philip II. of Spain. The Spanish alli- 
ance was hateful to the English ; while Philip soon tu'ed of 
liis haggard, sickly wife, whom he had chosen merely to 
gratify his father. She, however, idolized her husband, and, 
to please him, joined in the war against France. As the 
result she lost Calais, which had been for more than two 
hundred years an English possession. The humbled queen 
died soon after, declaring that the name of this stronghold 
would be found written on her heart. 

5. Elizabeth (1558-1603), the last of the Tudor sover- 
eigns, was the daughter of Anne Boleyn. SeLf-poised, cour- 
ageous, and determined, like all the Tudors, she thoroughly 
understood the temper of the nation; knew when to 
command and when to yield ; and was more than a match 

BGH-27 



462 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1558. 



for any politician 
at home or abroad. 
She brought about 
her wise statesmen 
like William Cecil 
(Lord Bui-leigh) 
and Francis Wal- 
singham. She re- 
stored the Protes- 
tant religion, and 
gave the Church 
of England its 
present form. She 
declined marriage 
to Philip II., say- 
ing that she was 
wedded to her 
realm, and would 
never bring in a 
foreign master. 
Acts of Supremacij and Uniformity were passed by her fii-st 
Parliament. The former act compelled every clergyman and 
office-holder to take an oath acknowledging Elizabeth as head 
of the Church of England, and to abjure every foreign prince 
and prelate ; the latter forbade attendance upon the ministry 
of any clergyman except of the estabhshed religion, and 
inflicted a fine on ah. who did not go to service. Both the 
Catholics and the Puritans ^ opposed these measures, but for 
some years met with the Church of England for worship. 

1 These Protestants desired what they called a purer form of worship than the 
one adopted for the Church of England, i. e , one further removed from that of Rome. 
Many usages retained by Elizabeth, such as wearing the surplice, making the sign of 
the cross in baptism, etc., gave them offense. As tliey refused to accept the Act of 
Uniformity, they were known as Nonconformists ; those who afterward formed sepa- 
rate congregations were called Separatists and Independents (Hist. U. S., p. 53). 




PORTRAITS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN 
OF SCOTS. 



1556, 1570.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 463 

Afterward they began to withdraw, and each to hold its own 
services in private houses. The Act of Uniformity was, how- 
ever, rigidly enforced. Many Catholics were executed. The 
Nonconformists were punished by fine, imprisonment, and 
exile, but their dauntless love of liberty and firm resistance 
to royal authority gave the party gi-eat strength. 

Mari/ Queen of Scots, gi-andnieee of Henry VIII., was 
the next heir to the Enghsh throne. At the French court 
she had assimied the title of Queen of England; and the 
Catholics, considering tli(^ marriage with Anne Boleyn void, 
looked upon her as their legitimate sovereign. After the 
death of Francis II. she returned to Scotland. The Refor- 
mation, under the preaching of John Knox, had there made 
gTeat progress. Mary's Catholicism aroused the hostility of 
her Protestant subjects, and her amusements shocked the 
rigid Scotch reformers as much as their austerity displeased 
the gay and fascinating queen. She was soon married to hei 
cousin Lord Dariiley. His weakness and vice quickly for- 
feited her love. One day, mtli some of liis companions, he 
dragged her secretary, Rizzio, from her supper-table, and 
murdered him almost at her feet. Mary never forgave this 
brutal crime. A few months later the lonely house in which 
Darnley was lying sick was blown up, and he was killed. 
Mary's marriage soon after with the Earl of Bothwell, the 
suspected murderer, aroused deep indignation. She was 
forced to resign the crown to her infant son, James VI. 
Finally she fled to England, where Elizabeth held her as a 
prisoner. For over eighteen years the beautiful captive 
was the center of innumerable conspiracies. The discovery 
of a plot to assassinate Elizabeth and put her rival on the 
throne brought the unfortunate Mary to the block (1587).^ 

1 A scaffold covered witli black clotli was built iu the hall of Fotheriugay Castle. 
In the gray light of a February morning, Mary appeared attired in black, her radiant 



464 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 



[1588. 



The Invincible Armada. — As Elizabeth aided the Protes- 
tants in the Netherlands,^ and her daring crnisers greatly 

annoyed the Spanish commerce, 
PhiUp resolved to conquer Eng- 
land. For three years Spain 
rang with the din of preparation. 
The danger united England, 
and Catholics and Protestants 
alike rallied around their queen. 
The command of the fleet was 
given to Lord Howard (a Cath- 
olic nobleman), while under him 
served Drake, Hawkins, and 
Frobisher. One day in July, 
1588, the Armada was descried 
off Plymouth, one hundred and 
forty ships sailing in a crescent 
form, seven miles in length. 
Beacons flashed the alarm from 
every hiU along the coast, and 
the English ships hmTied to 
the attack. Light, swift, and 
manned by the boldest seamen, they hung on the rear of the 
advancing squadron 5 poured shot into the unwieldy, slow- 
bailing Spanish galleons ; clustered like angry wasps about 




PHILIP II. OF SPAIN. 



beaiaty dimmed by her loiig imprisonment, but her courage unshaken. Tlirowing off 
her outer robe, beneatli which was a crimson dress, she stood forth against the black 
background blood-red from head to foot. With two blows the executioner did his 
work, and Mary's stormy life was ended. The execution of Mary is considered by 
many as the greatest blot on the memory of Queen Elizabeth. 

1 Elizabeth's favorite, the worthless Earl of Leicester, conducted an expedition 
to Holland (p. 449), but it effected nothing. The engagement before Zutphen, how- 
ever, is famous for the death of Sir Philip Sidney,— "the Flower of Chivalrie." In 
his dying agony, he begged for a drink of water. Just as he lifted the cup to his lips, 
he caught the wistful glance of a wounded soldier near by, and exclaimed, "CUve it 
to him. His need is greater than mine." 



1588.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 465 

their big antagonists; and, darting to and fro, prolonged 
the fight, off and on, for a week. The Spaniards then took 
refuge in the roads of Calais. Here tlie Duke of Parma 
was to join them with seventeen thousand veterans ; ])ut in 
the dead of night Howard sent into the port l)lazing fire- 
ships, and the Spaniards, panic-struck, stood to sea. With 
daylight the English started in keen pursuit. The Spanish 
admmil, tliinking no longer of victory but only of escape, 
attempted to return home by sailing around Scotland. 
Fearful storms arose. Ship after ship, crippled in spar 
and hull, went down before the fury of the northern blasts. 
Scarcely one third of the fleet escaped to tell the fearful 
tale of the loss of the Spanish Ai-mada. 

The Effect of this victory was to make England mistress of 
the sea, to insure the independence of Holland, to encourage 
the Huguenots in France, and to weaken Spanish influence 
in European affairs. From this shipwreck dates the decay 
of Spain (p. 449). 

Commerce was encouraged by Elizabeth, and her reign was 
an era of maritime adventure. The old Viking spii'it blazed 
forth anew. English sailors — many of whom were, by turns, 
explorers, pirates, and Protestant knight-errants — traversed 
every sea. Frobisher, daring Arctic icebergs, sought the 
Northwest Passage. Drake sailed round the world, captur- 
ing en route many a galleon laden with the gold and silver of 
the New World. Hawkins traced the coast of Guinea. Sir 
Walter Raleigh attempted to plant a colony in Virginia, so 
named, by this corn-tier's tact, after the Virgin Queen. In 
1600 the East India Company was formed, and from this 
sprung the English empire in India. 

Elizaheth^s Favorites cast a gleam of romance over her 
reign. Notwithstanding her real strength and ability, she 
was capricious, jealous, petulant, deceitful, and vain as any 



466 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1586. 



coquette. With waning beauty, she became the greedier 
of compliments. Her youthful courtiers, humoring this 
weakness, would, while approaching the throne, shade 
their eyes with their hands, as if dazzled by her radiance. 
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and son of Northumber- 
land (p. 461), was her earliest favorite.^ After Leicester's 

death, the Earl of Essex 
succeeded to the royal 
regard. Once, during a 
heated discussion, Essex 
turned his back upon 
Elizabeth, whereupon 
she boxed his ears. The 
favorite, forgetting his 
position, laid his hand 
upon his sword. But 
the queen forgave the 
insult, and sent him to 
Ireland, then in revolt. 
Essex met with little suc- 
cess, and, against Ehza- 
beth's orders, returned, 
and rushed into her 
presence unannounced. 
Though forgiven again, he was restive under the restrictions 
imposed, and made a wild attempt to raise a revolt in Lon- 
don. For this he was tried and beheaded. Even at the 
last, his life would have been spared, if Elizabeth had 
received a ring which, in a moment of tenderness, she had 
given him to send her whenever he needed her help. 




TOMB OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



1 Of the maguiticent entertaiument given to Elizabeth iu his castle, of the story 
of the ill-fated Amy Robsart, aud of the queen's infatuation with this arrogant, vicious 
man, Scott has told in his inimitable tale of Kenilworth. 



1603.J THE CIVILIZATION. 467 

Two years later, the Countess of Nottingham on her death- 
bed revealed the secret, Essex liad intrusted her with the 
ring, but she wdthheld it from the queen. Elizabeth in her 
rage shook the expiring woman, exclaiming, " God may for- 
give you, but I never can." From this time, the queen, 
sighing, weeping, and refusing food and medicine, rapidly 
declined to her death (1603). 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

The Progress of Civilization dm-ing the first modern century 
was rapid. The revival of learning that swept over Europe, heralding 
the dawn of the new era ; the outburst of maritime adventure that fol- 
lowed the discovery of America ; the spread of the "New Learning " by 
means of books, schools, and travel ; and the establishment of strong, 
centralized governments, — all produced striking results. 

Commerce. — Tlie wonderful development of commerce we have 
already traced in connection with the history of Spain, Portugal, Hol- 
land, England, etc. The colonies of these nations now formed a large 
portion of their wealth. The navies of Europe were already formid- 
able. Sovereign and people alike saw, in foreign trade and in distant 
discoveries and conquests, new sources of gain and glory. 

Art. — Italy had now become tlie instructress of the nations. She 
gave to the world Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Michael 
Angelo, Titian, Paul Veronese, Andrea del Sarto, Guido Reni, Ben- 
venuto Cellini, — masters of art, w^hose works have been the models for 
all succeeding ages. Painting, sculpture, and architectm-e felt the 
magic toucli of their genius. The intercourse with Italy caused by the 
Italian wars did much to naturalize in France that love of art for which 
she has since been so renowned. Francis I. brought home with him 
sculptors and painters ; and a new style of architecture, knowm as the 
French Renaissance, arose. 

Literature. — England bore the choicest fruit of the Revival of 
Learning. All the Tudors, except Henry VIL, were scholars. Henry 
VIII. spoke four languages ; and Elizabeth, after she became queen, 
"read more Greek in a day," as her tutor, old Roger Ascham, used to 
say, "than many a elergjTnan read of Latin in a week." During tlie 
brilliant era following the defeat of the Armada, the English language 
took on its modern form. Poetry, that had been silent siuce the days 
of Chaucer, broke forth anew. Never did there shine a more splendid 
galaxy of \mters than when, toward the end of tlie IGth century, 



468 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



there were in London, Sliakspere, Bacon, Spenser, Chapman, Drayton, 
Raleigh, Ben Jonson, Marlowe, and Sir Philip Sidney. Shakspere per- 
fected the drama ; Bacon developed a new philosophy ; Hooker shaped 
the strength of prose, and Spenser, the harmony of poetry. 




Sidney. Shakspere. Kaleigh. 

THE GLOKY OF THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 



Spenser. 



Modern Science already began to manifest glimpses of the new 
methods of thought. The fullness of its time was not to come until 
our own day. Copernicus taught that the sun is the center of the solar 
system. Vesalius, by means of dissection, laid the foundation of 
anatomy. Galileo, in the cathedral at Pisa, caught the secret of the 
pendulum. Kepler was now watching the planets. Gilbert, Eliza- 
beth's physician, was making a few electrical experiments. Gesner 
and Cassalpinus were finding out how to classify animals and plants. 
Palissy, the potter, declared his belief that fossil shells were once real 
sliells. 



"MERRIE ENGLANDE" UNDER "GOOD QUEEN BESS." 

Home Life. — Mansions. — The gloomy walls and serried battle- 
ments of the feudal fortress now gave place to the pomp and grace of 
the Elizabethan hall. A mixed and florid architecture, the transition 
from Gothic to Classical, marked the dawn of the Renaissance. Tall 
molded and twisted chimneys, grouped in stacks ; crocketed and gilded 
turrets ; fanciful weather-vanes ; gabled and fretted fronts ; great oriel 



THE CIVILIZATION. 469 

windows ; and the stately terraces and broad flights of steps which led 
to a formal garden, — marked the exterior of an Elizabetlian mansion. 
In the interior were spacious apartments approached by grand stair- 
cases ; immense mullioned and transomed windows ; huge carved oak 
or marble chimney-pieces, reaching up to gilded and heavily orna- 
mented ceilings ; and wainscoted walls covered with pictorial tapestries 
so loosely hung as to furnish a favorite hiding-place. Chimneys and 
large glass windows were the especial "modern improvements." The 
houses, which three centuries before were lighted only by loop-holes, 
now reveled in a broad glare of sunlight ; and the newly found " chim- 
ney-corner " brought increased domestic pleasure. Manor-houses were 
built in the form of the letter E (in honor of the Queen's initial), having 
two projecting wings, and a porch in the middle. A flower-garden was 
essential, and a surrounding moat was still common. Town-houses, 
constructed of an oak frame filled in with brick or with lath-and-plaster, 
had each successive story projecting over the next lower ; so that in 
the narrow streets the inmates on the upper floor could almost shake 
hands with their neighbors across the way. 

Furniture, even in noble mansions, was still rude and defective ; 
and though the lofty halls and banqueting-rooms were hung with costly 
arras and glittered with plate, — to possess less than a value of £100 in 
silver plate being a confession of poverty, — the rooms in daily use were 
often bare enough. Henry VIII. 's bed-chamber contained only the 
bed, two Flemish court-cupboards, a joined stool, a steel mirror, and 
the andirons, firepan, tongs, and fire-forks belonging to the hearth. It 
was an age of ornamental ironwork, and the 16th-century hearth and 
household utensils were models of elegant design. The chief furniture 
of a mansion consisted of grotesquely carved dressers or cupboards ; 
round, folding tables ; a few chests and presses ; sometimes a household 
clock, which was as yet a rarity; a day-bed or sofa, considered an 
excess of luxury ; carpets for couches and floors ; stiff, high-backed 
chairs ; and some " forms," or benches, with movable cushions. The bed 
was still the choicest piece of furniture. It was canopied and festooned 
like a throne ; the mattress was of the softest down ; the sheets were 
Holland linen ; and over the blankets was laid a coverlet embroidered 
in silk and gold witli the arms of its owner. There were often several 
of these cumbersome four-posters in one chamber. A portable bed was 
carried about in a leathern case whenever the lord traveled ; for he was 
no longer content, like his ancestors, with the floor or a hard bench. 

The poorer classes of Elizabeth's time had also improved in condi- 
tion. Many still lived in hovels made of clay-plastered wattles, hav- 
ing a hole in the roof for chimney, and a clay floor strewed with rushes, 
"under which," said Erasmus, '^lies unmolested an ancient collection 
of beer, grease, fragments, bones, and everything nasty." These were 



470 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



the people whose uncleanly habits fed the terrible plagues that period- 
ically raged in England. But houses of brick and stone as well as of 
oak were now abundant among the yeomanry. The wooden ladle and 
trencher had given way to the pewter spoon and platter; and the 
feather bed and pillow were fast displacing the sack of straw and 
the log bolster. Sea-coal (mineral coal) began to be used in the better 
houses, as the destruction of forests had reduced the supply of firewood. 
The dirt and sulphurous odor of the coal prejudiced many against its 
use, and it was forbidden to be burned in London during the sitting of 
Parliament, lest the health of the country members should suffer. 




A GROUP OF COUUTIKRS IN THE TIME OF KIJZABETH. 



Dress. — The fashionable man now wore a large starched ruff; a 
padded, long-waisted doublet ; '' trunk-hose " distended with wool, hair, 
bran, or feathers, — a fashion dating from Henry VIII., whose flattering 
courtiers stuffed their clothes as the king grew fat ; richly ornamented 
nether stocks, confined with jeweled and embroidered garters ; gemmed 
and rosetted shoes ; and, dangling at dangerous angles over all, a long 
Toledo blade. The courtiers glistened with precious stones, and even 
the immortal Shakspere wore rings in his ears ! The ladies appeared 
in caps, hats, and hoods of every shape, one of the prettiest being that 
now known as the Mary Queen of Scots cap. The hair was dyed, curled, 
frizzed, and crimped, in a variety of forms and colors. Elizabeth, who, 
it is said, had eighty wigs, was seen sometimes in black hair, sometimes 
in red : the Queen of Scots wore successively black, yellow, and auburn 
hair. But yellow was most in favor ; and many a little street blonde was 
decoyed aside and shorn of her locks, to furnish a periwig for some fine 
lady. The linen ruff, worn in triple folds about the neck, was of ''pre- 



THE CIVILIZATION. 471 

postei'ous amplitude and terrible stiffness."! The lonjsf, rigi<l bodice, 
descending almost to the knees, was crossed and recrossed with lacers ; 
and about and below it stretched the farthingale, standing out like a 
largo balloon. Knitted and clocked black-silk stockings — a new im- 
portation from France — were worn with high-heeled shoes, or with 
white, green, or yellow slippers. Perfumed and embroidered gloves ; 
a gold-handled fan, finished with ostrich or peacock feathers ; a small 
looking-glass hanging from the girdle ; a black-velvet mask ; and long 
loops of peai'ls about the neck, — completed the belle's costume. 

At Table all wore their hats, as they did also in church or at the 
theater. The noon dinner was the formal meal of the day, and was 
characterized by stately decorum. It was " served to the Virgin Queen 
as if it were an act of worship, amid kneeling pages, guards, and ladies, 
and to the sound of trumpets and kettledrums." The nobles followed 
the royal example and kept up princely style. The old ceremonious 
custom of washing hands was still observed ; perfumed water was used, 
and the ewer, basin, and hand-towel were ostentatiously employed. The 
guests were ushered into the hall, and seated at the long table accord- 
ing to their rank ; the conspicuous salt-cellar — an article which sujier- 
stition decreed should always be the first one placed on the table — still 
separated the honored from the inferior guests. The favorite dishes 
were a boar's head ^^a•eathed with rosemary, and sucking-pigs which 
had been fed on dates and muscadine. Fruit-jellies and preserves were 
delicacies recently introduced. Etiquette pervaded everything, even to 
the important disjolay of plate on the dresser : thus, a prince of royal 
blood had five steps or shelves to his cupboard ; a duke, four ; a lesser 
noble, three ; a knight-banneret, two ; and a simple gentleman, one. 
Forks were still unknown, but they were brought from Italy early in 
the 17th century. Bread and meats were presented on the point of a 
knife, the food being conveyed to the mouth by the left hand. After 
dinner the guests retired to the withdrawing-room, or to the garden- 
house, for the banquet. Here choice wines, pastry, and sweetmeats 
were served, and a "marchpane" (a little sugar-and-almond castle) 
was merrily battered to pieces with sugarplums. Music, mummery, 
and masquerading enlivened the feast. 

With common people, ale, spiced and prepared in various forms, was 
the popular drink ; and the ale-houses of the day, which were frequented 
too often by women, were centers of vice and dissipation. Tea and coffee 
were yet unknown, and were not introduced till the next century. 2 

1 Starcli, tlien ue w iu Euglaud, was called by Philip Stubbe " the devil's liquor with 
which the womeu smeare aud starche their neckerchiefs." Its inventress perished on 
the scaffold, wearing one of her own stiff collars, after which they went out of fashion. 

2 The Portuguese imported some tea from China iu the 16th century, but it was 
over sixty years after the death of Elizabeth before the munificent gift of two pounds 



472 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



Domestic Manners were stern and formal. Sons, even in mature 
life, stood silent and uncovered in their father's presence, and daugh- 
ters knelt on a cushion until their mother had retired. The yard-long 
fan-handles served for whipping-rods, and discipline was enforced so 
promptly and severely that grown-up men and women often trembled 
at the sight of their parents. Lady Jane Grey confided to Roger 
Ascham that her parents used " so sharply to taunt her, and to give her 
^uah. pinclies, nips, and &0&5" at the slightest offense, that she was in 
constant terror before them. At school the same principles prevailed, 
and the 16tli-century schoolboy could well appreciate the classically 
recorded woes of the little Ancient Roman (see p. 280). 

Street Life. — The Elizabethan city-madam beguiled the hours of 
her husband's absence at the mart, or exchange, by sitting with her 
daughters outside the street-door, under the successive projections of 
her tall, half-timber house, and gazing upon the sights of the dirty, 
narrow, crooked, unpaved, London highway. Here, while they regaled 
themselves with sweetmeats, or smoked the newly imported Indian 

weed, they watched the full- 
toileted gallant in his morn- 
ing lounge toward St. Paul's 
churchyard and the neigh- 
boring book-stalls, or his 
after-dinner stroll toward 
Blackfriars Theater, where, 
at three o'clock or at the 
floating of the play-house 
flag, was to be acted the 
newest comedy of a rising 
young play -writer,— one Wil- 
liam Shakspere. Occasion- 
ally a roystering party of 
roughs, armed with wooden 
spears and shields, would be 
seen hurrying to the Thames 
for a boat-joust, bawling the 
while to one another their braggart threats of a good wetting in the 
coming clash of boats ; or one of the new-fashioned, carved, canopied, 
and curtained wagons, called coaches, would go jolting along, having 
neither springs nor windows, but with wide-open sides which offered 
unobstructed view of the painted and bewigged court-ladies who filled 
it ; or smiles, and bows, and the throwing of kisses, would mark the 

of tea, from the English East India Company to Catharine, queen of Charles II., 
heralded in England a new national heverage. Tea was soon afterwards sold at from 
six to ten guineas per pound. The first coffee-house was opened in 1651. 




BHAKSPEUE'S GLOBE THEATER. 



THE CIVILIZATION, 



473 




passing of a friend with her retinue of fiat-capped, bine-gowned, white 
stoeldnged 'prentices,— a comparatively new class, whose street clubs 
were destined thenceforth to figure in nearly every London riot, and 
who were finally to be the conquerors at Marston Moor and Naseby ; or 
a gi-oup of high-born ladies, out for a frolic, would cross the distant 
bridge on their way to Southwark bear-garden, where for threepence 
they could enjoy the roars and flounderings of a chained and blinded 
bear worried by English bulldogs. Now her ears caught the sound of 
angi-y voices from the 
neighboring ale-house, 
where a party of wo- 
men were drinking and 
gambling ; and now 
a poor old withered 
dame rushed swiftly 
by, hotly pursued by a 
shouting crowd, armed 
with long pins to prick 
''the witch'-' and see 
if blood would follow, 
or, grasping at her hair, 
to tear out a handful 
to burn for a counter- 
charm. Anon, a poor 

fellow, vnth the blood flowing from his freshly crojjped ears, came stag- 
gering home from a public flogging, — it was his second punishment 
for vagi-ancy, and lucky he to escape being branded with a V, and sold 
as a slave to his informer. There was, indeed, no end of ''rogues, 
vagabonds, and sturdy beggars," 1 singly or in crowds, who passed and 
repassed from morning till night ; and many a bloody brawl, robbery, 
and even murder, this 16th-century Londoner could witness from her 
own street-door. At night the narrow city-lanes swarmed with thieves, 
who skillfully dodged the rays of the flaring cresset borne by the 
marching watch. Fortunately early hours were fashionable, and nine 
o'clock saw the bulk of society-folk within their o\^^l homes. 

Along the wretched coimtry roads, most travel was on horseback, the 
ladies riding on a pillion behind a servant. There was no regular stage 
communication. On the gi'eat road to Scotland were some royal post 
stations, but ordinary letters were sent by chance merchants or by a 
special courier. 

Holiday Life. — Sunday was the great day for all diversions, from 

1 It is curious to find included under this head the scholars of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge Universities, who were expressly " forbidden to beg except they had the 
authority of the chancellor" (compare A German Traveling Student, n. 476). 



THE RACK. 
(A Mode of Punishment in the ICth Century.) 



474 



THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 




LONDON WATCHMEN (IGTU CE.NTUKY). 



cock-fighting to theater-go- 
ing. Numerous church fes- 
tivals gave every working- 
man a round of relaxation. 
Christmas-time, especially, 
was one long saturnalia, 
from All-hallow Eve to the 
Feast of the Purification. 
What mummerings and mas- 
queradingSjWhat pijiings and 
drummings, what jingling of 
bells and shouting of songs, 
what flaunting of plumes 
and mad whirling of ker- 
chiefs around all England ! 
Through every borough and 
village, a motley, grotesque- 
ly masked troop of revelers, 
armed with bells, drums, and 
squeaking fifes, and mounted 
on hobby-horses or great pasteboard dragons, followed its chosen 
" Lord of Misrule " wherever his riotous humor led ; even into the 
churches, where the service was abruptly dropped, and the congrega- 
tion clambered upon the high-backed seats, to see the wild pranks of 
the licensed merry-crew ; even into the churchyards, where, among the 
clustering graves, they broached and drank barrels of strong, coarse ale. 
There was gentler but no less hearty cheer by the home firesides, 
where the huge yule-log on Christmas eve, and the rosemary-garnished 
boar's head at Christmas dinner, were each brought in with joyous 
ceremonies. Servants and children joined in the season's universal 
license ; every house resounded with romping games, and every street 
re-echoed Christmas carols. 

And who could resist May-day ? The tall, garlanded May-pole, drawn 
in by flower-wreathed oxen ; the jollity of the ceaseless dance about its 
fluttering ribands; the by-play of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck; the 
jingling Morris-dancers; the trippings of the milk-maids with their 
crowns of silver tankards ; and the ubiquitous, rollicking hobby-horse 
and dragon, — made the livelong day one burst of happy frolic. 

SCENES IN GERMAN LIFE. 



Scene I. — The Home of the Land-Junker, or country knight, is a 
gloomy, dirty, and comfortless castle. Placed on a barren height, ex- 
posed to winter blast and summer sun ; destitute of pure water, though 



THE OIVILTZATTON. 475 

sun'ounded by stagnant ditches ; liglitod l)y dim jtaiios in tiny windows ; 
crowded with inmates (the junker's younger brotliers and cousins, 
with their families, numberless servants, men-at-arms, and laborers); 
pestered in summer by noisome smells and insect hordes, that rise from 
steaming pools and filth-heaps in the foul courtyard ; cold and dreary 
in winter, despite the huge tiled stoves fed by forest logs, and so broad 
that beds can bo made upon them ; scantily furnished, but always 
well stocked with weapons kept briglit by constant use against the 
raids of roving marauders and quarrelsome neighbors, — the junker's 
dwelling is still more a fortress than a home. It has its prisons, and 
they are not unused. In this one, perhaps, pines and frets a burgher- 
merchant, w^aylaid and robbed upon the road and now held for his 
ransom, who wearily eats his dole of black bread while the lady of the 
castle, singing cheerfully, makes coats and mantles of the fine cloth 
stolen from his pack ; in that one sulks a jjeasant, sore with the stripes 
received for crossing the path of the master's chase, and in imagination 
sharpening his next arrow for the master's heart. Jostling one another 
over the open kitchen fire, the servants of the various households push 
and crowd and w^rangle ; while from the courtyard comes the sound of 
playing children, barking dogs, and cackling geese. 

The junker's frau is general housekeeper, head-cook, and family 
doctor ; and she has learned by frequent experience how to manage 
a tipsy husband and his rude guests, who amuse themselves in her 
presence by making coarse jokes and by blackening the faces of her 
domestics. She is proud of her family brocades and gold heirlooms, 
and looks w^rathfully on the costly furs, velvets, and pearls worn without 
right — as she thinks — by the upstart wives of rich city burgesses. 

The jimker's sons grow up with horses, dogs, and servants. They 
study a little Latin at the village school, w^atch the poultry for their 
mother, and scour the woods for wild pears and mushrooms to be dried 
for winter use. Occasionally a boy goes through the course at the 
university; but it is oftener the son of a shoemaker or a village 
pastor, than of a nobleman, who rises to distinction. Now and then a 
strolling ballad-singer delights the junker's ear with a choice bit of 
scandal that he has been hired to propagate far and wide in satirical 
verse ; or an itinerant peddler brings the little irregularly published 
news-sheet, with its startling accounts of maidens possessed with 
demons, the latest astrological prediction, and the strange doings of 
Dr. Martin Luther. Otherwise the master himts, quarrels, feasts, and 
carouses. Ruined estates, heavy debts, and prolonged lawsuits dis- 
turb his few sober hours. He strives to bolster up his fortunes by 
building toll-bridges (even where there is no river), and by keeping 
such wretched roads that the traveling merchant's wagons unavoidably 
upset, when he, as lord of the manor, claims the scattered goods. 



476 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

Scene II. — The Home of the Eich Patrician is luxurious. He is the 
money-owner of the realm. A merchant-prince, he traffics with Italy 
and the Levant, buys a whole year's harvest from the King of Portugal, 
has invoices from both the Indies, and takes personal journeys to Cal- 
cutta. He is statesman, soldier, and art-patron. For him are painted 
Albert Diirer's most elaborate pictures, and in his valuable library are 
found the choicest books, fresh from the new art of printing. He 
educates his sons in Italy, and inspires his daughters with a love for 
learning. He shapes the German policy of imperial cities, and sup- 
plies emperor and princes with gold from his strong-banded coffers. 
When, in 1575, Herr Marcus Fugger entertains at dinner a wandering 
Silesian prince, that potentate's chamberlain is dazed by the costly 
display, which he thus notes down in his jom*nal: ''Such a banquet I 
never beheld. The repast was spread in a hall with more gold than 
color ; the marble floor was smooth as ice ; the sideboard, placed the 
whole length of the hall, was set out with drinking-vessels and rare 
Venetian glasses ; there was the value of more than a ton of gold. 
Herr Fugger gave to his Princely Highness for a drinking-cup an 
artistically formed ship of the most beautiful Venetian glass. He took 
his Princely Highness through the prodigious great house to a turret, 
where he showed him a treasure of chains, jewels, and precious stones, 
besides curious coins, and pieces of gold as large as my head. After- 
ward he opened a chest full of ducats and crowns up to the brim. The 
turret itself was paved halfway down from the top with gold thalers." 
— Diary of Hans Von Schweinichen. 

Scene III. — A German Traveling Student (16th century).— The Ger- 
man boy who wished to become a scholar had often a weary road to 
plod. As Schilt^, or yoimger student, he was always the fag of some 
Bacchant, or older comrade, for whom he was forced to perform the most 
menial offices, — his only consolation being that the bacchant, should he 
ever enter a university, would be equally humiliated by the students 
whose circle he would join. Thousands of bacchanten and schiitzen 
wandered over Germany, sipping like bees, first at one school, then at 
another ; everywhere begging their way under an organized system, 
which protected older resident students from the greedy zeal of new 
arrivals. The autobiography of Thomas Platter, who began life as a 
Swiss shepherd-boy and ended it as a famous Basle schoolmaster, gives 
us some curious details of this scholastic vagrancy. At nine years of 
age he was sent to the village priest, of whom he ''learned to sing a 
little of the salve and to beg for eggs, besides being cruelly beaten and 
ofttimes dragged by the ears out of the house." He soon joined his 
wandering cousin, Paulus, who proved even a harder master than the 
priest. "There were eight of us traveling together, three of whom 
were schiitzen, I being the youngest. When I could not keep up well, 



THE ClVHilZATlON. 477 

Paulus came behind me with a rod and switched me on my bare legs, 
for I had no stockings and bad shoes." The little schiitzen had to beg 
or steal enough to support their seniors, though they were never allowed 
to sit at table with them, and were often sent supperless to their bed of 
foul straw in the stable, while the bacchanten dined and slept in the 
inn. The party stopped at Nuremberg, then at Dresden, and thence 
journeyed to Breslau, " suffering much from hunger on the road, eating 
nothing for days but raw onions and salt, or roasted acorns and crabs. 
We slept in the open air, for no one would take us in, and often they 
set the dogs upon us." At Breslau there were seven parishes, each with 
its separate school supported by alms, no schiitz being allowed to beg 
outside of his own parish. Here also was a hospital for the students, 
and a specified sum provided by the town for the sick. At the schools 
the bacchanten had small rooms with straw beds, but the schiitzen lay 
on the hearth in winter, and in summer slept on heaps of gi-ass in the 
chm'chyard. " When it rained we ran into the school, and if there was 
a storm we chanted the responsoria and other things almost all night 
with the succentor." There was such "excellent begging" at Breslau 
that the party fell ill from over-eating. The little ones were sometimes 
" treated at the beer-houses to strong Polish peasant beer, and got so 
drunk we could not find our way home." " In the school, nine bachelors 
always read together at the same hour in one room, for there were no 
printed Greek books in the country at that time. The preceptor alone 
had a printed Terence ; what was read had first to be dictated, then 
parsed and construed, and lastly explained ; so that the bacchanten, 
when they went away, carried with them large sheets of writing." As 
to the schiitzen, the begging absorbed most of their time. Soon the 
wandering fever came on again, and the party tramped back to Dresden 
and then to Ulm, falling meantime into gi'eat want. " Often I was so 
hungiy that I drove the dogs in the streets away from their bones, and 
gnawed them." The bacchanten now became so cruel and despotic that 
Thomas ran away, weeping bitterly that no one cared for him. " It was 
cold, and I had neither cap nor shoes, only torn stockings and a scanty 
jacket." Paulus, having no thought of giving up so good a provider, 
followed him hither and thither to the great fright and distress of the 
poor little schiitz, who had many a narrow escape from the vengeance 
of his pursuer. At last he reached his beloved Switzerland, which, he 
pathetically records, ''made me so happy I thought I was in heaven." 
At Zurich he offered his begging services to some bacchanten in return 
for their teaching, but "learned no more with them than with the 
others." At Strasburg he had no better success, but at Schlettstadt he 
found ''the first school in which things went on well." It was the year 
of the Diet of Worms, and Thomas was now eighteen years old. He 
had been a nominal pupil for nine years, but could not yet read. His 

BQH— 28 



478 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

hard life had left its trace, and though, after the custom of the time, 
his name was formally Latinized into Platterus, his preceptor con- 
temptuously added : ''Poof ! what a measly schiitz to have such a fine 
name ! " Scholars soon so increased in this town that there was not 
support for all, and Thomas tried another village, "where there was a 
tolerably good school and more food; but we were obliged to be so 
constantly in church that we lost all our time." At last he returned 
to Zurich, and entered under " a good and learned but severe school- 
master. I sat down in a corner near his chair, and said to myself, 'In 
this corner will I study or die.' I got on well with Father Myconius : 
he read Terence to us, and we had to conjugate and decline every word 
of a play. It often happened that my jacket was wet and my eyes 
almost blind with fear, and yet he never gave me a blow, save once on 
my cheek." Thomas's trials and struggles continued for some years 
longer. He learned rope-making as a means of support, and used to 
fasten the separate sheets of his Greek Plautus (a precious gift from 
a Basle printer) to the rope, that he might read while working. He 
studied much at night, and in time rose to be a corrector of the press, 
then citizen and printer, and finally rector of the Latin School at 
Basle. 

SUMMARY. 

The sixteenth was the century of Charles V., Francis I., Henry 
VIII. , Pope Leo X., Loyola, Luther, Calvin, Philip II., William the 
Silent, Catharine de' Medici, Henry IV., Queen Elizabeth, Mary 
Stuart, Shakspere, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, and Coperni- 
cus. It saw the battle of Pa via ; the conquest of Mexico and Peru ; 
the Reformation in Germany ; the founding of the order of Jesuits ; 
the abdication of Charles V. ; the battle of Lepanto ; the Massacre of 
St. Bartholomew ; the Union of Utrecht ; the triumph of the Beggars ; 
the death of Mary Stuart ; the defeat of the Spanish Armada ; the bat- 
tle of Ivry ; and the Edict of Nantes. 

READING REFERENCES. 

The General Modern Histories on p. 429, and Special Histories of England, France, 
Germany, etc., on p. -118.— D'Aubigne's Reformation.— RanTce's History of the Popes. 
—Robertson's Life of Charles V.—3fotley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, United Nether- 
lands, and John of Barneveld.— Spalding's History of the Protestant Reformation 
(Catholic view).—JPressense's Early Years of Christianity.— Seebohm's Era of Protes- 
tant Revolution {Epochs of History Series).— MsJier's Reformation.— Hdusser's Period 
of the Reformation.— Hiibner's Life of Sixtus V.—Audin's Life of Luther {Catholic 
view).—Eroude's Short Studies {Erasmus and Luther).— Smiles' s TJie Huguenots.— 
Hanna's Wars of the Huguenots.— Freer' s Histories of Henry III., and Maria de' 
Medici.— Lingard's History of England {Era of the Reformation, Catholic view).— 
Macaulay's Ivry (poem).— James's Henry of Guise, and Huguenots (fiction).— Dumas' s 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEKKIGNS. 



479 



Forty-five OvMrdsmen (fiction).— Ebers' 8 Burgomasters Wife (Siege of Leyden).— 
Miss Yonge's Unknown to History (Romance illustrating Mary Stuart's times).— Mrg. 
Charles's ScJibnberg-Cotta Family. 



CHRONOLOGY. 



A. D. 

Henry VIII., King of Enj?laud ...1509-47 

Francis I., King of France 1515-47 

Luther publishes his theses 1517 

Cliarles V., Emperor of Germany.. 1520-56 

Cortes takes Mexico 1521 

Battle of Pavia 1525 

Bourbon sacks Rome 1527 

Reformers called Protestants 1529 

Pizarro ccmquers Peru 1533 

Order of Jesuits founded by Loyola. 1534 
Council of Trent 1545 



A. D. 

Treaty of Passau 1552 

Abdication of diaries V 1556 

Elizabeth, Queen of England... 1558-1003 

Battle of Lepanto 1571 

Massacre of St. Bartholomew 1572 

Siege of Lej'den 1574 

Mary Queen of Scots beheaded 1587 

Defeat of the Spanish A rmada 1588 

Henry IV., King of France 1589 

Battle of Ivry 1590 

Edict of Nantes 1598 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. 



ENGLAND. 

Henry VI II.... 1509 

Edward VI .... 1547 

Mary 1553 

Elizabeth 1558 



FRANCE. 

Louis XII 1498 

Francis 1 1515 

Henri' II 1547 

Francis II 1559 

Charles IX 15G0 

Henry III 1574 

Henry IV 1589 



GERMANY. 

Maximilian I.. 1493 
Charles V 1520 



Ferdinand I 1556 

Maximilian II. 1564 
Rudolph II 1576 



SPAIN. 

Ferdinand and 

Isabella 1479 

Charles 1 1.516 

Philip II 1556 

Philip III 1598 




BRINGING IN THE YULE LOG AT CHRISTMAS. 



480 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. THE THIRTY-YEARS' WAR. 

The Causes of this war were mainly : 1. The smoldering 
religious hatred of half a century, kindled afresh by the 
Bohemian troubles ; 2. The church lands which the Protes- 
tants had seized and the Catholic princes sought to reclaim j 
3. The emperor Ferdinand's determination, backed by Spain, 
to subjugate Germany to his faith and house. 

Opening of the War. — The Bohemians, enraged by 
Ferdinand's intolerance (p. 444), revolted, threw two of the 
royal councilors out of a window of the palace at Prague, 
and chose as king the elector-palatine Frederick, son-in-law 
of James I. of England. War ensued, — the old Hussite strug- 
gle over again. But Frederick's army was defeated near 
Prague in its fii'st battle, and the "Winter King," as he was 
called, for he reigned only one winter, instead of gaining a 
kingdom, in the end lost his Palatinate, and died in poverty 
and exile. 1 Meanwhile Ferdinand was chosen emperor. 

Spread of the War. — As the seat of the war passed 
from Bohemia into the Palatinate, the other German states, 
in spite of their singular indifference and jealousy, became 
involved in the struggle. Finally Christian IV. of Den- 
mark, who, as Duke of Holstein, was a prince of the empire. 

Geographical Questions.— luOGa,te Prague ; Magdeburg ; Leipsic ; Liitzen ; 
Rocroi; Freiburg; Nordlingeu ; Lens; Rastadt ; Strasbiirg.— Point out Bohemia; 
Westyhalia ; Saxony ; Pomerania ; The Palatinate ; Brandenburg ; Alsace ;' Brus- 
sels ; Luxemburg : Nimeguen ; Fleurus ; Steinkirk ; Neerwiuden ; Blenheim ; 
Ramillies ; Gudenarde ; Malplaquet ; Dunkirk ; Rochelle ; Nantes ; Utrecht.— Dover ; 
Marston Moor ; Naseby ; Dunbar ; Worcester. 

1 Little did his wife Elizabeth dream, as she wandered among foreign courts beg- 
ging shelter for herself and children, that her grandson would sit on the English 
throne. 



1G27.] 



THE THIRTY-YEARS' WAR. 



481 



espoused Frederick's cause. In this crisis, Count Wallenstein 
volunteered to raise an army for the emperor, and support 
it from the liostile territory. The magic of his name and 
the hope of phmder drew adventurers from all sides. With 




100,000 men he invaded Denmark. Christian was forced 
to flee to his islands, and finally to sue for peace (1G29). 
Ferdinand's Triumph now appeared complete. Ger- 



482 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1629. 

many lay helpless at his feet. The dream of Charles V. — an 
Austrian monarch, absolute, like a French or a Spanish 
king — seemed about to be realized. Ferdinand ventured 
to force the Protestants to restore the church lands. But 
Wallenstein's mercenaries had become as obnoxious to the 
Catholics as to the Protestants, and Ferdinand was mduced 
to dismiss him just at the moment when, as the event 
proved, he most needed his services : for at this juncture 

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, landed with a 
small army on the Baltic coast. A pious, prudent, honest, 
resolute, generous man ; maintaining strict discipline among 
his soldiers, who were devoted to their leader; holding 
prayers in camp twice a day ; sharing every hardship with 
the meanest private, and every danger with the bravest ; treat- 
ing the enemy with humanit3^ respecting the rights of the 
inhabitants of the country, and paying for the food he took ; 
improving the art of war by breaking the heavy masses of 
the army into small battalions, by throwing off their armor, 
by reducing the weight of their weapons, and by mingling 
the cavalry, pikemen, artillery, and musketeers so as to sup- 
port one another in battle, — such was the man who now 
appeared as the Protestant champion. In Vienna they 
laughed at the " Snow King," as they called him, and said 
he would melt under a southern sun. But by the next sum- 
mer he had taken eighty towns and fortresses. France, then 
ruled by Richelieu (p. 487), made a treaty promising him 
money to pay his army ; and, though England did not join 
him, thousands of English and Scotch rallied around the 
banner of the Lion of the North. 

Tilly, the best imperial general after Wallenstein, now laid 
siege to Magdeburg (1631). Gustavus hastened to its relief. 
But, while he was negotiating leave to cross the Protestant 
states of Saxony and Brandenburg, Magdeburg was taken by 



1631.] THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 483 

storm. For three days Tilly's bandit soldiers robbed and 
murdered throughout the doomed city. From that time 
this Iiero of thirty-six battles never won another field. On 
the plain of Leipsic, Gustavus captured Tilly's guns, turned 
them upon him, and di-ove his army into headlong flight. 
The victor, falling on his knees amid tlie dead and dying, 
gave thanks to God for his success. The next year, at the 
crossing of the Lech, Tilly was mortally wounded. 

Coioit Wall en stein '^ was now recalled, the humbled em- 
peror giving hun absolute power over his army. He soon 
gathered a force of men, who knew no trade but arms, and 
no principle but plunder. After months of maneuvering, 
during which these skillful generals sought to take each 
other at a disadvantage, Gustavus, learning that Wallenstein 
had sent his best cavalry-officer, Pappenheim, with ten thou- 
sand men, into Westphalia, attacked the imperial forces at 

Liitzen, near Leipsic (1632). After prayer, his army sang 
Luther's hymn, " God is a strong tower," when he himself 
led the advance. Three times that day the hard-fought field 
was lost and won. At last Gusta\Tis, while rallying his 
troops, was shot. The riderless horse, galloping wildly down 
the line, spread the news. But the Swedes, undismayed, 
fought under Bernard of Weimar more desperately than 
ever. Pappenheim, who had been hastily recalled, came 
up only in time to meet their fierce charge, and to die at 
the head of his dragoons. Night put an end to the carnage. 



1 Wallenstein lived on his princely estates with regal pomp. He was served by 
nobles ; sixty high-born pages did his bidding, and sixty life-guards watched in his 
ante-chamber. His horses ate fiom mangers of polished steel, and their .stalls were 
decorated with paintings. When he traveled, his suite filled sixty carriages ; and his 
baggage, one hundred wagons. The silence of death brooded around him. He so 
dreaded noise that the streets leading to his palace in Prague were closed by chains, 
lest the sound of carriage-wheels should reacli his oar. He believed in astrologj', and 
that the stars foretold him a brilliant destiny. His men thought him to be in league 
with spirits, and hence invulnerable in battle. Like Tilly, he wore in his hat a blood- 
red feather, and it is said that his usual dress was scarlet. 



484 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



Walleii stein crept off in the 
dark, leaving liis colors and 
cannon behind. Gustavns 
had fallen, like Epaminondas 
(p. 148), in the hour of vi 



[1632. 




BEFORE THE BATTLE OF LLTZEN. 



After the Death of Gustavus, the war had little in- 
terest. As the Swedish crown fell to Christina, a little girl 
of six years, the direction of military affairs was given to the 
chancellor Oxenstiern, an able statesman ; under him were 
Bernard, Duke of Weimar, the Generals Horn and Baner, 
and later the brilliant Torstenson. Ferdinand, suspecting 
Wallenstein's fidelity, caused his assassination. At Word- 
Ungen (1634) the Swedes met their first great defeat, and 
the next year most of the, Protestant states of Germany 



1635-48.] THE THIRTY- YE ARS^ WAR. 485 

made terms with the emperor. Still for thirteen years 
longer the war dragged on. 

The Character of the contest had now entirely changed. 
It was no longer a struggle for the supremacy of Catholic or 
Protestant. The progi-ess of the war had destroyed the feel- 
ings with whicli it had commenced. France had openly 
taken the field against Spain and Austria. Ferdinand died, 
and his son, Ferdinand III., came to the throne : Richelieu 
and Louis XIII. died, but Louis XIV. and his minister, 
Mazarin, continued the former policy. Both French and 
Swedes strove to get lands in Germany, and Ferdinand 
stniggled to save as much as possible from their grasping 
hands. The contending armies — composed of the offscour- 
ings of all Europe — surged to and fro, leaving behind them 
a broad track of ruin. The great French generals, Conde 
and Tiu-enne, masters of a new art of war, by the victo- 
ries of Bocroi, Freihnrg,^ N^ordUngen, and Lens, assured the 
power of France. Maximilian of Bavaria made an heroic 
stand for the emperor 5 but at last, Bavaria being overrun, 
Bohemia invaded, a part of Prague taken,^ and Vienna itseK 
threatened, Ferdinand was forced to sign the 

Peace of Westphalia (1648).— This treaty— the basis 
of our modern map of Europe — brought to an end the reli- 
gious wars of the Continent. It recognized the independ- 
ence of Holland and Switzerland ; granted religious freedom 
to the Protestant states of Germany; and gave Alsace to 
France, and a part of Pomerania to Sweden. 

The Effect of the Thirty- Years' War upon Germany is not yet 
effaced. ''The whole land," says Carlyle, ''had been tortured, torn to 
pieces, wrecked, and brayed as in a mortar." Two thirds of the popu- 
lation had disappeared. Famine, pestilence, and the sword had con- 
verted vast tracts into a ^\^lderness. Whole villages stood empty save 

' Aoconiing to tradition, Coiid6, iu tins battle, threw his marshal's baton into the 
enemy's trenches, and then recovered it, sword in liand. 

2 Thus the Thirty-Yeaxs' War, which began at Prague, ended at Prague. 



486 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1610. 



for the famished dogs that prowled around the deserted houses. All 
idea of nationality was lost ; the Holy Roman Empire was practically at 
an end, and the name German emperor was henceforth merely an empty 
title of the Austrian rulers ; while between the Alps and the Baltic 
were three hundred petty states, each with its own court, coinage, and 
customs. Trade, literature, and manufactures were paralyzed. French 
manners and habits were servilely imitated, and each little court sought 
to reproduce in miniature the pomp of Versailles. Henceforth, until 
almost our own times, the empire has no history, and that of the differ- 
ent states is a dreary chapter indeed. "From the Peace of Westphalia 
to the French Revolution," says Bryce, "it would be hard to find a sin- 
gle grand character, a single noble enterprise, a single sacrifice to public 
interests, or a single instance where the welfare of the nation was pre- 
ferred to the selfish passion of the prince. When we ask for an account 
of the political life of Germany in the 18th century, we hear nothing but 
the scandals of buzzing courts and the wrangling of diplomatists at 
never-ending congresses." Even Lessing, the great German author, 
wrote, " Of the love of country, I have no conception ; it appears to me, 
at best, a heroic weakness which I am right glad to be without." 



II. FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. THE AGE OF RICHELIEU (1622-42). 

Louis XIII. (1610-43). — The dagger of Ravaillac gave 

the crown to Henry's son, 
a boy of nine years. The 
queen-mother, Maria de' 
Medici, the regent, squan- 
dered upon her favorites 
the treasures saved by the 
frugal Sully, who now re- 
tired in disgrace. The 
nobles, regaining power, 
levied taxes and coined 
money, as in feudal times ; 
while the Huguenots — 

LOUIS xni. 

forming an independent 
state within the state — garrisoned fortresses, hired soldiers, 
and held political assemblies. All was chaos until Louis, 
having come of age, called a new man to his councils. 




1622.] 



FRANCE — THE AGE OF RICHELIEU. 



487 



Cardinal de Richelieu.^ — Henceforth Louis was the 
second man in France, but the first in Europe. The king 
cowered before the 
genius of his minis- 
ter, whom he hated 
and yet obeyed. 
Rich(?lieu had three 
objects : to destroy 
the Huguenots as a 
party, to subdue the 
nol_)les, and to hum- 
ble Austria. 

1. By building a 
stone mole across 
the entrance to the 
harbor of Rochelle 
and shutting out 

the English fleet, Richelieii reduced that Huguenot strong- 
hold. The other Calvinist towns then submitting, he gen- 
erously granted the reformers freedom of worship. 

2. By destroying the feudal castles, and by attracting the 
nobles to Paris, where they became absorbed in the luxm-ies 
and frivohties of the court, he weakened their provincial 
power. The rebellious aristocracy hated the cardinal, and 
formed conspiracy after conspiracy against him. But he 
detected each plot, and punished its authors with merciless 
severity. The nobility crushed, Parliament — the highest 




CARDINAL liICHP:LIEU. 



1 " This extraordinary man," says Mi.ss Edwards in her charming History of 
France, " has been, not inaptly, compared witli his predecessor, Wolsey of England. 
Like him, he was a prelate, a minister, a consummate politician, and a master of the 
arts of intrigue. He gave his whole attention and all his vast abilities to affairs of 
state, was prodigal of displaj', and entertained projects of the most towering ambi- 
tion. He added to his ministerial and priestlj' dignities the emoluments and lionors 
of the profession of arms; assumed the dress and title of generalissimo of the French 
army ; and wore alternately the helmet of tlio warrior and the scarlet hat of the 
cardinal." 



488 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1643. 



court of law — was forced to register the royal edicts with- 
out examination. The monarchy was at last absolute. 

3. By supporting the Protestants during the Thirty- 
Years' War, Richeheu weakened the House of Austria in 
Germany and Spain, and so made France the head of the 
European States-System. 

Just at the hour of his triumph, Richelieu died. Louis, 
whose life had been so closely linked to that of his famous 
minister, survived him only six months. 

2. THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. (1643-1715). 



LiOuis XIV. was only five years old at his father's death. 
Anne of Austria, the queen-mother, became regent, and 

Mazarin was appointed 
prime-minister. The fruits 
of Richelieu's foreign policy 
were rapidly gathered by the 
two renowned generals, — 
Conde and Turenne,— -who 
now commanded the French 
armies. The battles of Bo- 
er oi,^ Freiburg, N'ordUngen, 
and Lens humiliated Aus- 
tria, and paved the way to 
the Peace of Westphaha. 

CAUDINAI. MAZARIN. ^ ^ 

Spain, however, continued 




1 The pupil may be aided in remembering these important battles if lie associate 
the four names with Conde and Turenne (thougli Turenne fought only at Freiburg 
and Nordlingen) : tlie names frequently repeated together will form a chain of associ- 
ation. The same remark holds true with regard to Luxemburg's tliree battles (p. 492), 
and Marlborough's four battles (p. 493). On the field of Rocroi the French found the 
remains of the Castilian infantry, first formed by Gonsalvo (p. 431), lying dead in battle- 
line, and at the head tlie commander, Comte de Fuentes, hero of twenty battles, ex- 
piring in an arm-cliair in which, on account of his feebleness, lie had been borne to the 
front. " Were I not victor," said the young Duke tVEnghein (Cond6), " I should wisli 
thus to die," 



1659.] 



FRANCE— THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 



489 



the war^ until, by the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), she 
yielded Artois and Roussillon to Louis. From this time, 
France held that place among European nations which Si)ain 
had so long occupied. Upon the death of Mazarin (1G61), 

Louis assumed the Government. — Henceforth, for 
over half a century, he was sole master in France. He 
became his own prime-minister, and, though only twenty- 
three years old, by his dili- 
gence soon acquii-ed the de- 
tails of public affairs. He 
selected his assistants with 
rare wisdom. Colbert, the 
new finance minister, was 
another Sully, by economy 
and system increasing the 
revenues, while he encour- 
aged agriculture, manufac- 
tures, and commerce. Lou- 
vois, the war minister, or- 
ganized and equipped the 
army, making it the terror of 
Eui'ope. Never had France 
been so powerful. One hun- 
dred fortresses, monuments 
of the skill of Vauban, — the 
greatest engineer of his day, 
— covered the frontier; one 




1 The cost of this war and the luxury of the court made the taxes very onerous. 
Finally Parliament refused to register the tariff, and a revolt broke out in -which 
the Parisian burghers and many nobles joined. This rising is known as the Fronde, 
and tlie actors were called Frondeurs (slingers),— since the gamins of Paris, with their 
slings, were foremost in the outbreak. The struggle was a burlesque on civil war. 
Fun ran rampant. Everything was a Fronde ; and a sling, the universal fashion. 
The leaders on each side were the most fascinating women of France. In the end 
the Fronde was subdued. It was the last struggle of the nobles against despotism. 



490 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1685. 

hundred ships of the Ime lay in the magnificent harbors of 
Toulon, Brest, and Havre ; and an army of one hundred and 
forty thousand men, under Turenne, Conde, and Luxemburg, 
was ready to take the field at the word. The French people, 
weary of strife, willingly surrendered their political rights 
to this autocrat, who secured to them prosperity at home 
and dignity abroad. 

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. — By the 
advice of the cold and selfish Louvois and of Madame de 
Maintenon, — whom the king married after the death of 
Maria Theresa, — the Edict of Nantes (p. 454) was revoked 
(1685). The Protestant schools were closed, the Huguenot 
ministers expelled, and squadrons of cavahy quartered 
upon the suspected. Many citizens were imprisoned, exe- 
cuted, or sent to the galleys. Although emigration was for^ 
bidden under severe penalties, two hundred thousand of the 
best artisans escaped to foreign lands, whither they carried 
arts and industries hitherto known only to France. 

Four Great Wars were waged by Louis to gTatify his 
ambition, and extend the power of France. These were : 

. 1. War of Flanders (1667-68) ; ended by Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

2. War uiith Holland, and First Coalition (1672-79) ; closed by 
Treaty of Nimeguen. 

3. War of the Falatinate ; Second Coalition (1688-97); concluded 
by Peace of Ryswick. 

4. War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) ; terminated by treaties 
of Utreclit and Rastadt. 

1. War of Flanders. — On the death of his father-in-law, 
Philip IV. of Spain, Louis, in the name of Maria Theresa, 
invaded Flanders. But in the midst of a triumphant prog^ 
ress he was checked by the ^' Triple AUiance " of England, 
Holland, and Sweden, and forced to make the Treaty of Aix 
la-Chapelle, giving up most of his conquests. 



1672.] 



FRANCE — THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 



491 



2. War with Holland. — Louis was eager to revenge him- 
self upon the little republic that had so long been the ally 
of France, but now defended its old oppressor, Spain. So, 
having bribed England and Sweden to desert the alliance, 
he poured his troops 
into HoUand. With 
him were Conde, Tu- 
renne, Luxemburg, 
Louvois, and Vau- 
ban. Ai-med with 
the bayonet, then a 
new and terrible 
weapon, they swept 
all before them until 
within sight of Am- 
sterdam. But once 
again the courage of 
the Dutch rose high, 
as in the days of the 
Sea Beffffars.i ^'Bet- 

^'^ TURENNE. 

ter," said they, ^4et 

the sea dro^vn our farms than the French destroy our liber- 
ties." The sluices were opened, and the German Ocean, rush- 
ing in, saved the capital. William, Prince of Orange,^ chosen 
stadtholder in this emergency, aroused all Europe with di-ead 
of Louis's ambition. Soon the First Coalition of the empu-e, 
Spain, and Brandenburg (now Prussia) was formed against 
France. Louis, however, made head against all these foes, 
untn, Europe longing for peace, he granted the Treaty of 

1 The Dutch even proposed, in case of reverse, to embark on tlieir fleet, like tlie 
Athenians (p. 132), to abandon their couutrj' to tliis modern Xerxes, sail to their East 
Indian possessions, and found a new republic beyond the sea. 

2 The great-srandson of the Liberator of the Netherlands (p. 446), and aflt-rward 
William III. of England (p. .511). 




492 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1679. 

Nimeguen. This gave Franche Comte, and several fortresses 
and towns in Flanders, to France. Louis now considered 
himself the arbiter of Europe. He seized Strasburg in a 
time of profound peace; captured the fortress of Luxem- 
burg ; bombarded Algiers ; humiliated Genoa, forcing the 
Doge to come to Paris and beg for mercy ; wrested Avignon 
from the Pope ; and, basest of all, secretly encouraged the 
Turks to invade Austria.^ 

3. The War of the Second Coalition'^ was begun by its 
most memorable event, — the cruel devastation of the Palat- 
inate. Here the French army, unable to hold its conquests, 
destroyed over forty cities and villages. Houses were blown 
up; vineyards and orchards cut down. Palaces, churches, 
and universities shared a common fate. Even the ceme- 
teries were profaned, and the ashes of the dead scattered 
to the wind. A cry of execration went up from the civilized 
world. William, Prince of Orange, then King of England 
(p. 511), became the leader of the '' Grand Alliance," to set 
bounds to Louis's power. 

At first Louis was triumphant. Luxemburg^ — the suc- 
cessor of Turenne and Conde — conquered the allies under 
William, at Fleurus, SteinMrk, and Neerwinden. But Wil- 
liam was greatest in defeat, and his stubborn valor held the 
French in check. Ere long, misfortunes gathered thickly 
about the Grand Monarch. Colbert, Louvois, and Luxem- 
burg died. Louis was finally forced to sign the Treaty of 

1 Vienna would have fallen into the liands of the Infidel if it had not been for John 
Sohieski, King of Poland, who routed the Turks under the walls of the city as Charles 
the Hammer put to tliglit the Saracen on the plains of Tours nearly ten centuries 
before. 

2 This war extended to North America, and is known in our history as King Wil- 
liam's War (Hist. U. S., p. 77). 

8 Luxemburg was styled the Upholsterer of Notre Dame, from the number of cap- 
tured flags he sent to be hung as trophies in that cathedral. "Would to God," said 
he on his deathbed, "that I could offer Him, instead of so many useless laurels, the 
merit of a cup of water given to the poor in His name." 



1697.] FRANCE — THE AGE OF LOUIS XTV. 493 

Rysivick, recognizing William as lawful sovereign of Eng- 
land, and surrendering most of his conquests, but retaining 
Strasburg, which Vauban's art had made the key of the 
Rhine. 

4. The War of the Spanish Succession'^ began the 18th 
century. Charles II. of Spain willed his crown to Philip of 
Anjou, son of the Dauphin ; Louis supported his grandson's 
claim. The emperor Leopold ^ was as nearly related to the 
Spanish family as was Louis : so he asserted the right of his 
second son, the Archduke Charles. The union of France 
and Spain under the House of Bourbon endangering the 
balance of power, a Third Coalition was formed. William, 
the soul of this league also, died at the beginning of the war. 
But his place in the field was more than filled by the brilliant 
Duke of Marlborough, and by Prince Eugene, who com- 
manded the imperial forces.^ Marlborough won the famous 
victories of Blenheim, EamilUes, Oitdenarde, and MalpJaquet ; 
Eugene di'ove the French headlong out of Italy, and threat- 
ened France. The long wars had exhausted the people; 
famine and disease ran riot through the land; and Louis 
humiliated himseK in vain, begging the allies for peace. 

In the midst of disaster, however, he achieved his end by 
two unlooked-for events. The archduke became emperor, 
and the allies were as unwilling that Spain should be united 
to Austria as to France ; in England the Tories came into 
power, and recalled the dreaded Marlborough. The terrible 
struggle was ended by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt. 
Philip was acknowledged King of Spain ; the Spanish posses- 

1 This struggle also involved the American colonies, and is known in our history 
as Queen Anne's War (Hist. U. S., p. 79). 

2 Known in liistory as the " Little man with the red stockings." 

3 Eugene was bred in France, and offered his sword to Louis, but was contemptu- 
ously rejected. Having called the Grand Monarch "a stage-king for .show and a 
chess-king for use," he liad grievously offended the king, and now, having entered 
the emperor's service, he became the bitterest enemy of France. 



494 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 117U. 

sions in Italy and in tlie Netherlands were ceded to the em- 
peror Charles VI. ; Newfoundland, Acadia, and Gibraltar — 
the key of the Mediterranean — were given to England. 

Death of Louis. — The Grand Monarch had carried out 
his plan, but he had impoverished France, mortgaged her 
revenues for years in advance, and destroyed her industries. 
Worn and disappointed, he closed his long reign of seventy- 
two years, having outlived his good fortune, and sacrificed 
his country to his false ideas of glory. 

III. ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS (1603-1714). 

The Stuart Rule covered the 17th century. It was 
the era of the English constitutional struggle. The charac- 
teristic feature was the conflict between the kings bent upon 
absolute power, and the Parhament contending for the rights 
of the people. 

TABLE OF THE STUART LINE (see Tudor Table, p. 455). 
JAMES I., son of Mary Queen of Scots (1603-25). 



CHARLES I. (1625-J9). | 

I Elizabeth, m. Elector- 

I I I Palatine. 

CHARLES II. (1660-85). JAMES II. (1685-89). SOPHIA, m. ELECTOR^OF^^^ 

' GEORGE I. (1714). 



I I 

MARY II. (1689-94). ANNE (1702-14). 

James I. (1603-25). — Obstinate, conceited, pedantic, 
weak, mean-looking in person, ungainly in manners, slovenly 
in dress, led by unworthy favorites, given to wine, and so 
timorous as to shudder at a drawn sword, — the first Stuart 
king had few qualities of a ruler. ^ In strange contrast with 

1 Macaulay says that " James was made np of two men,— a witty, well-read scholar, 
who wrote, disputed, and harangued ; and a nervous, driveling idiot, who acted." 
Sully styled him " The wisest fool in Europe." He was the author of several books, 
notably of one against the use of tobacco ; and under tils patronage the still generally 
accepted translation of the Bible was made. 







•ravTKtM, IlivOM « c« , •act^ i 



496 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1603. 



his undignified appearance, were his royal pretensions. He 
believed in the " divine right" of the king, and in the "pas- 
sive obedience " of the subject. While the Tudors had the 
tact to become absolute by making themselves the exponents 
of the national will, James ostentatiously opposed his per- 
sonal policy to the popular desire. 




(.1 \ i V\\Kl-> AM) Illh tOMl'AMONS 
(From a Print of the Time.) 



Gunpowder Plot. — The Catholics naturally expected tol- 
eration from Mary's son, but, being persecuted more bitterly 
than ever, a few desperate ones resolved to blow up Parlia- 
ment on the day of its opening by the king (1605). They 
accordingly hired a cellar under the Houses of Parliament, 
where they hid thirty-six barrels of gunpowder beneath fag- 
ots of fii-ewood. At the last moment a conspirator sent a 
note to a relation, warning him to keep away from Parha- 
ment. The letter was shown to the king, search made, and 
Guy Fawkes found waiting with lantern and slow-match to 



1605.] ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 497 

fire the train. This horrible plot bore bitter fruit, and 
stringent laws were passed against the " recusants," i. e.^ 
those who refused to attend church. 

Parliament and the King were in conflict throughout this 
reign ; the former contending for more li1)erty, the latter 
for more power. James would have gladly done without 
Parliament altogether, but he had constantly to go begging 
for money to the House of Commons ; and that body adopted 
tiie principle, now one of the corner-stones of the British 
constitution, that " a redi-ess of gi'ievances must precede a 
granting of supplies." Resolved not to yield, the king dis- 
solved Parliament after Parliament, and sought to raise a 
revenue by reviving various feudal customs. He extorted 
benevolences, sold titles of nobility, and increased monopo- 
lies, until the entu-e trade of the country was in the hands of 
about two hundi-ed persons. But these makeshifts availed 
him little, and step by step Parliament gained gi'ound. Be- 
fore the end of his reign it had suppressed the odious mo- 
nopolies, reformed the law-courts, removed obnoxious royal 
favorites, impeached at its bar the highest officers of the 
Crown, made good its claim to exclusive control of taxation, 
and asserted its right to discuss any question pertaining to 
the welfare of the realm. 

James's Foreign Policy was, if possible, more unpopular 
in England than his domestic. He undid the work of 
Elizabeth, and wasted the fruit of her triumph over the 
Ai'mada ; cultivated the friendship of Spain ; and, during 
the Thirty- Years' War, refused any efficient aid to his son- 
in-law, the Elector Palatine, though the nation clamored to 
join in the struggle. England now ceased to be the leading 
Protestant power in Europe. 

Charles I. (1625-49), unlike his father James, was 
refined in taste and dignified in manner, but his ideas of the 

B O H-29 



498 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 



[1625. 




royal prerogative 
were even more 
exalted. He made 
promises only to 
break them, and 
the nation soon 
learned to doubt 
the royal word. 
His wife, Henriet- 
ta Maria, daughter 
of Henry IV. of 
France, favored 
absolutism after 
the French mod- 
el, and hated the 
Puritans, who also 
distrusted her as 
a Catholic. Buck- 
ingham, who had been James's favorite, was the king's chief 
adviser. Wife and favorite both urged Charles on in the 
fatal course to which his own inclinations tended. The 
history of his reign is that of one long 

Struggle between Parliament and King. — The Parliament 
of 1628 wrested from Charles the famous Petition of Right, 
— the second great charter of Enghsh liberty. It forbade 
the king to levy taxes without the consent of Parhament, to 
imprison a subject without trial, or to billet soldiers in pri- 
vate houses. Charles, however, as usual, disregarded his 
promise, and then for eleven years ruled like an autocrat. 

During this period no Parliament was convoked, — an 
instance unparalleled in English history. Buckingham hav- 
ing been assassinated by a Puritan fanatic, the Earl of Straf- 
ford and Archbishop Laud became the royal advisers. The 



CHARLES I. AND HIS ARMOR-UEAREU. 
(From a Painting by Van Dyck.) 



1629-40.] ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 499 

former contrived a cruel i)lan known as ''Thorough/' by 
which he meant to make the king absolute. In Ireland, 
where the scheme was tried, Irish and English alike crouched 
in terror under his iron rule. Laud was resolved to crush 
the Puritans, and restore to the Church many of its ancient 
usages. All who differed from him were tried in the High 
Commission Court; while the Star Chamber^ Court fined, 
whipped, and imprisoned those speaking ill of the king's 
policy, or refusing to pay the money he illegally demanded. 
The Puritans, persecuted on every hand, found their only 
refuge in the wilds of America, and in a single year three 
thousand joined their brethren in New England. 

No tax caused more feeling than the imposition of ship- 
money upon inland towns in time of peace. At last the 
opposition found a voice in John Hampden. He resisted 
the levy of twenty shillings upon his property, and, though 
beaten in the royal coiu't, became the people's hero. 

In Scotland, also, Charles carried matters with a high 
hand. Laud attempted to abolish Presbyterianism, and 
introduce a liturgy. Thereupon the Scotch rose en masse, 
and signed, some of them with theii* own blood, a cove- 
nant binding themselves to resist every mnovation on their 
religious rights. Finally an army of Scots crossed the 
border, and Charles was forced to assemble the celebrated 

^^Long Parliaments^ (1640), so called because it lasted 
twenty years. The old contest was renewed. Strafford, and 
afterward Laud, were brought to the block ; the Star Cham- 
ber and High Commission Courts were abolished ,• and Par- 
liament voted that it could not be adjourned without its 
own consent. At last Charles, in desperation, rashly at- 

1 Tliis court was so called because it met in a chamber at Westminster whoso 
ceiling was decoraterl with }?ilt stars. " A London citizen was severelj' punished by- 
one of the royal courts for terminf? the crest of a nobleman upon the buttons of his 
livery-servant a goose instead of a swan." 



500 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1642. 



tempted, with a body of armed men, to arrest in tlie House 
itself five of the patriot leaders, among them Hampden and 
Pym. They took refuge in the city, whence, seven days 
later, they were brought back to the House of Commons in 
triumph, escorted by London train bands, amid the roar 
of cannon and the shouts of the people. 




CROMWELL DISSOLVING THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 



Civil War (1642-48) was now inevitable. Charles has- 
tened northward and unfurled the royal banner. The Puri- 
tans, together with London and the cities generally, sup- 
ported Parhament; the clergy, the nobles, and the gay 
young men, who disliked the Puritan strictness, favored the 
king.^ Rupert, Charles's nephew, and son of the Winter 

1 The royalists were callerl Cavaliers, from their skill in riding ; and the parlia- 
mentarians, Boundlieads, from the Puritan fashion of wearing closely cut hair. In 
later times the same parties were styled Tories and Whigs. At the present day the 
two parties are known as Conservatives and Radicals. 



1644.] ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 501 

King (p. 480), was a dasliiug cavalry-officer, and on field 
after field swept everything before liim. The plow-boys, 
apprentice-lads, and shop-keepers, who made up the parlia- 
mentary army, were no match for the English chivalry. 

Marston Moor (1044). — Here a new man came to the front, 
Oliver Cromwell, who, with his Ironsides, — a regiment of 
Puritan di'agoons selected and trained after his own plan,^ 
— drove Rupert's cavaliers peU-meU from the field. 

Tlie Indepemlents. — The Puritan party had now become 
strong ; but it was divided into Presbyterians and Independ- 
ents. The Presbyterians, constituting the majority of Par- 
liament, desired religious conformity and to limit the royal 
authority 5 the Independents wished religious toleration 
and to found a republic. CromweU was the chief of the 
latter faction, which now took the lead. Under its auspices, 
the army known as the '^New Model" was organized. It 
was composed of earnest. God-fearing men, who fought, not 
for pay, but for hberty of conscience. Perfect discipline was 
combined with enthusiastic religious fervor. Profanity and 
drunkenness were unknown. Officers and men spent their 
leisure in prayer and Bible-reading, and went into battle 
singing psahus and hymns. 

At Nasehy (1645) the New Model fought with the royal 
forces the decisive contest of the war. The Roundhead 
left wing pelded to the fury of Rupert's Cavaliers, who 
pursued the fugitives in hot haste. Meanwhile Cromvrell 
routed the royalist left mug, then turned back, and, attack- 
ing in flank the center, where Charles commanded, swept the 
field. Rupert returned from his mad pursuit, only to find 
the battle over and the royal cause irrevocably lost. 



1 In the evening after Edgehill, the first battle of this war, Oliver said to his 
cousin, John Hampden, " It is plain that men of religion are wanted to withstand 
these gentlemen of honor." 



502 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



[1645, 



The Khnffi Fate. — diaries 
fled to the Scots, wlio gave 
him up to the Parliament ; 
but the army soon got him 
into its possession. Negotia- 
tions ensued, during which 




EXECUTION OF CHARI 



the king sought to play off Independents against Presby- 
terians, until his insincerity became evident to all. The 
army, then the master, had no faith in the king ; and even 
Cromwell and his son-in-law Ireton, who struggled long to 
mediate upon the basis of civil and religious liberty, were 
forced to yield, A body of soldiers under Colonel Pride 
surrounded the House of Commons, and shut out the Pres- 
byterian members. Thus reduced, by what is known as 
"Pride's Purge," to about sixty Independents, the House 



1649.J ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. ^^^ 

appointed a commission to try the king on a charge of 
treason. Condemned to death, Charles met his fate with a 
dignity that went far to atone for the errors of his life.^ 

The Commonwealth (1649-GO).— England was now to 
be governed without king or lords. Authority was vested in 
the diminished House of Commons, contemptuously styled 
the " Rump." The real riiler, however, was Cromwell, who, 
with his terrible army, silenced all opposition. 

In Ireland and Scotland the Prince of Wales was pro- 
claimed as Charles II. Thereupon Cromwell's merciless 
Ironsides conquered Ireland as it never had been before; 
then, crossing into Scotland, they routed the Covenanters 
at Dimhar, and again, on the anniversary of that victory, 
at Worcester.^ 

War also broke out with HoUand for the empire of the 
sea. The Dutch were at fli*st successfid, and Van Tronip 
sailed up the Channel with a broom tied at his masthead, to 
show that he meant to sweep the EngHsh from the ocean. 



1 " He nothing common (lid or niean 
Upon tbat niemoiablo scene ; 
But with his keener eye 
The ax's edge did try ; 
Nor called the gods with vulgar spite 
To vindicate his helpless right ; 
But bow'd his comely head 
Down, as upon a heiL^'—Marvell. 
When the executioner lifted the severed head from the block, a groan of pity burst 
from the horror-stricken multitude. Yet even in the shadow of the scaffold, Charles 
asserted his continued belief that " a share in government " is " nothing pertaining " 
to the people. 

2 Charles II., as the price of the Scottish support, had signed the Covenant, and 
declared himself afflicted at the thought of his father's tyrannj' and his mother's idol- 
atry. He had, however, no real hold upon Scotland, and after the battle of Worcester 
became a fugitive. The story of his escape to the Continent is full of romantic adven- 
tures. At one time he took refuge in tlie spreading branches of an oak-tree whence 
he could see his enemies scouring the country in pux-suit: at another he was dis- 
guised as a groom to a lady who rode beliind him on a pillion, as was then the cus- 
tom. Though over forty persons knew his secret, and Parliament had offered a 
reward of one thousand pounds for his capture, all were faithful to tlieir trust, 
and the prince finally reached a collier at the seaside, and was carried across to 
Normandy. 



504 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1654. 

But the British fleet under the gallant Blake finally forced 
Holland to a treaty agreeing that, when ships of the two 
nations met, the Dutch vessel should salute by striking its 



Cromtvell and Parliament. — The Rump did not govern 
satisfactorily, and so Cromwell with a file of soldiers drove 
the members from the hall, and put the keys in his pocket 
(1653). He then called an assembly of his own selection. 
It was known as ''Praise-God Barebone's Parliament," from 
the quaint name of one of its members. This body soon 
resigned its power into Cromwell's hands, having given him 
the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. 

The Protectorate. — Cromwell desired to rule constitution- 
ally by means of a Parliament; but the Houses of Com- 
mons which he assembled proved troublesome, and were 
dissolved. So he governed as a military despot. He had the 
power of a king, but, Uke Caesar (p. 251), dared not take the 
title. Under his vigorous administration, the glory of Eng- 
land, dimmed by the policy of the Stuarts, shone even 
brighter than under Elizabeth. The Barbary pii^ates were 
chastised ; Jamaica was captured ; and Dunkirk was received 
from France in return for help against Spain. Everywhere 
protecting the Protestants, Cromwell forced the Duke of 
Savoy to cease persecuting the Vaudois; and he dreamed 
of making England the head of a great Protestant league. 
In spite, however, of his genius and strength, of renown 
abroad, and prosperity at home, 

CromtveIVs Last Days were full of gloom. He had kept 
the hearts of his soldiers, but had broken mth almost every 
other class of his countrymen. The people were weary of 
Puritan strictness that rebuked their innocent amuse- 
ments ; weary of the rule of a soldier ; above aU, perhaps, 
weary of a republic. Factional strife grew hot, and republi- 



1658.] 



ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 



505 



can and royalist alike plotted against their new tyrant. 
In constant di^ead of assassination, Cromwell wore a coat 
of mail, and, it is said, slept in a different room every 
night. The death of a favorite daughter gi-eatly afflicted 
him. He died shortly afterward, in the midst of a fear- 
ful tempest, on his " Fortunate Day," — the anniversary of 
Dunbar and Worcester. His last words were, "My work 
is done." 




MEDAL OF OLIVER CHOMWELL. 



With him Puritanism seemed to sink out of sight, but 
its best qualities sm'vived, and bequeathed to England, 
as well as to our own New England, its earnestness, its 
fidelity, its firmness, its devotion to the right, and its love 
of hberty. 

The Friends, or Quakers, arose at this time through the 
teachings of George Fox. He denounced war, asserted the 
brotherhood of all men, declined to take an oath in court, 
used the second person singular in addressing others, and 
refused to uncover his head in any presence. His followers 
were persecuted, but their zeal, patience, and purity of life 
gained the admiration even of their enemies. The number 
of Friends increased rapidly, and, upon the founding of 
Pennsylvania, many emigi-ated to the New World. 



506 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1658. 

Richard Cromwell succeeded his father in the protec- 
torate ] but he was a good-uatured, easy soul, with no idea 
how to govern, and he soon retu-ed to private life. The 
army was all-powerful, and it seemed at one time as if the 
scenes at Rome, when soldiers set up the crown at auction, 
might be renewed in England. At this juncture General 
Monk, who commanded in Scotland, marched to London, 
and, under his protection, the old Long Parliament met, 
issued wi'its for a new election, and finally dissolved itself 
(1660). A new Parliament was assembled, and Charles II. 
was invited to the throne of his ancestors.^ 

The Restoration.— Charles II. (1660-85) was wel- 
comed with a tumult of joy. No conditions were imposed ; 
the year of his accession was styled, not the first, but the 
twelfth, of his reign, and the restored Stuart was made as 
absolute as any Tudor. 

The Reaction. — From Puritan austerity, which forbade not 
only theatrical representations but even Christmas festivities 
and the dance about the May-pole on the village green, the 
people now rushed to the opposite extreme of revelry and 
frivolity. Giddiest of all was the Merry Monarch. King 
and court alike made light of honor and virtue. In the 
plays then acted upon the stage, ridicule was poiu-ed upon 
the holiest ties and the most sacred principles. 

England was in a very dehrium of royalty. The Es- 
tablished Church was restored, and two thousand ministers 
were expelled from their pulpits as Nonconformists. To 
attend a dissenting place of worship became a crime for 
which men were whipped, imprisoned, and transported. 

1 The disbantled Puritan army of 50,000 men quietly went back to their shops and 
fields. Everywhere the gallant soldiers prospered. Not one of them begged for alms 
or was charged with crime. So it came about tliat, "if a baker, a mason, a wagoner, 
attracted attention by his diligence and sobriety, lie was, in all probability, one of 
Oliver's old followers." History knows only one othei such event. That was at the 
close of our own civil war (Hist. U. S., p. 281). 



1CC5.] ENGLAND UNDKU T11F> STI'AliTS. 507 

111 S(^otl{iii(l lilt' }>eo|)lti j^viierally ' sulmiittt'il to the new 
order of thiiii^s, but aloiii^' the weyteni lowlands the stem ohl 
Covenanters, sword and Bible in hand, continued to meet 
their former pastors upon lonely moor and mountain, and, 
though hunted like wild beasts and tortured by thumbscrew 
and iron-boot, still insisted upon their right to worship God 
according to the dictates of their own consciences. 

The Plague broke out in London in 1GG5. The shops were 
shut, whole blocks stood empty, and grass grew in the streets. 
Houses in which the pestilence raged were marked with a 
red cross, and the words, "■ Lord have mercy upon us." All 
night long the carts rattled through the streets, with a tolling 
bell and the burier's dismal cry, "Bring out your dead." 
No coffins were used ; no mourners followed their friends ; 
and deep trenches served for graves. To add to the horror 
of the scene, a strange, wild-looking man constantly stalked 
up and down the deserted city, calling out ever and anon in 
a sepulchral voice, " Oh, the great and dreadful God ! " 
Before the plague was stayed, one hundred thousand per- 
sons had perished in the capital alone, and large numbers in 
other places. 

The Great Fire of London broke out in the following 
year. It raged for three days, and swept from the Tower to 
the Temple. Two hundred thousand people were di-iven to 
the open fields, homeless and destitute.^ 



1 The change that had taken place is well shown by a single instance. When 
Archbishop Laud sought to introduce a liturgy into Scotland, on the occasion of the 
first reading of prayers iii Edinburgh, one Jenny Geddes inaugurated civil war (1G37) 
by hurling a stool at the dean's head. Jenny now cast tlie contents of lier stall and 
basket into a bonfire in honor of the king's coronation and the subsequent action 
of Parliament. 

2 Singularly enougli, the fire began in Pudding Lane, neav Fish St., and stopped at 
Pie Corner. It is probable that some association of these names led to an inscription 
which formerly existed under a very fat, human figure, still to be seen against the 
wall of a public-house near by : " This boy is in memory put up of the late fire of 
London occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666." 



508 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1667. 

Dutch War. — During these calamitous years, a war was 
going on with Holland, — England's rival in commerce. 
Charles squandered on his pleasures the money Parliament 
voted for the navy, and now the Dutch fleet sailed up the 
Thames, and for the first and last time the roar of foreign 
guns was heard in London. That " dreadful sound" broke 
the dream of royalty. Other events, too, were hastening the 
ruin of Charles's popularity, as well as bringing Protestant 
England into alliance with Protestant Holland. 

Charles and Louis XIV. — At this time, France, under 
Louis XIV., had become what Spain was under Philip II., 
the strongest power in Europe and the champion of abso- 
lutism and Catholicism. A dread of France had replaced 
the old English dislike of Spain. Charles, however, did not 
share in his subjects' fear. Even when his people forced 
him to join the Triple Alhance, he was privately negotiat- 
ing with liis cousin Louis, to whom he had already sold Dun- 
kirk, — the Gibraltar of that day, — in order to fill his always 
empty purse ; and, though Parliament was wild to aid Wil- 
liam of Orange in his gallant struggle, Charles signed with 
France the secret Treatij of Dover (1670). In this treaty 
Charles agreed to establish Catholicism in England, and to 
help Louis in his schemes against Holland ; Louis, in turn, 
promised his cousin an annual pension, and the assistance 
of the French army should England resist. 

Plots. — Some inklings of this treaty had been whispered 
about, when the English people were driven frantic by news 
of a so-called "Popish Plot" to massacre the Protestants, 
and to bring over French troops. One Titus Oates, a rene- 
gade Jesuit, pretended to reveal the scheme, and his per- 
jured testimony, amid the heat of the excitement, cost the 
lives of many innocent Catholics, and led to the passage of 
the Test Act, excluding Catholics from Parliament. 



1678.] 



ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 



509 



Jt^Ug 



James, Duke of 
York, the king's 
brother and heir 
to the crown, was 
a Catholic, and 
personally very 
unpopular.^ The 
Whigs 2 resolved 
to shut him out 
from the thi-one. 
They even planned 
an insurrection, 
and a few desper- 
ate ones formed 
the Bye House Plot 
to kill the king 
and his brother. 
The discovery of 
this plot brought unjustly to the block two illustrious men, 
Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney.^ 

The Result of these odious plots was to weaken the Whigs, 
and bring the Tories to the front. Charles was thus able, 
for the last four years of his reign, to rule without a Parlia- 
ment, and to push his despotic schemes. He regularly drew 
his pension from Louis, and helped him as he could, but, 




TITUS GATES IN THE PILLORY. 
(From a Print of the Time. ) 



1 Cue day he cautioned his brotlier Cliailes about froinj,' unattended, but received 
the bitter retorli "They will never kill me to make you kins." 

2 Whig and Tory were nicknames. Whig (whey) was a favorite drink of the 
Covenanters, and initialed their motto: "We Hope In God." Tory was a name 
originally applied to the outlaws of the Irish bogs. Whigs in general favored tlie 
rights of the people; Tories supported the court and the royal prerogative. 

•^ Out of the hot discussions of tliis period came the famous Habeas Corpus (bring 
the body) Act. This law provides tliat among other rights a prisoner can insist upon 
being brought " bodily " before a judge to have his detention inquired into. Prior to 
that, Mary Queen of Scots had been an uncondemned prisoner for nineteen 3'ear8. 
Sir Walter Raleigh languislied in a dungeon over twelve years. 



510 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1681-85. 

shrewd and intelligent in spite of his idle and pleasnre-lov- 
ing nature, he never attempted to overthrow the established 
rehgion of England.^ 

James II. (1685-88) came to the throne without opposi- 
tion. He soon showed that his chief aim was to restore 
Catholicism. To accomplish this end, he resorted to illegal 
measures, and strained the royal prerogative to the utmost. 
At this time Louir. XIV. had just revoked the Edict of 
Nantes, and the persecuted Huguenots were flocking to Eng- 
land. Yet James ventured to raise a large and threatening 
standing army, and, in spite of the law of the realm and 
the protest of his Parliament, to officer it extensively with 
his Catholic favorites. In vain the Pope counseled mod- 
eration, and the Catholic gentry stood aloof. The English 
people submitted, however, as they knew that the next heir 
' — James's daughter Mary, wife of WiUiam of Orange — was 
Protestant. But the birth of a Prince of Wales ^ crushed 
this hope. Thereupon Whigs and Tories united in inviting 
WiUiam to come to the defense of English liberties. 

The "Revolution of 1688." — William was welcomed 
almost as gladly as Charles II. had been twenty-eight years 
before. James, deserted by aU, fled to France. A conven- 
tion proclaimed William and Mary King and Queen of 
England. They agi-eed to a Bill of Bights that guaranteed 
aU for which the people had so long contended. Thus the 

1 He eveu rebuked the zeal of his brother James, and said in his ironical way, " I 
am too old to go again upon my travels; you may, if you choose." It is strange that 
Charles, with all his cleverness, did not connect his name with anj' valuable measure 
of his reign. Shaftesbury's epigram was but too true : 

" Here lies our sovereign lord the king, 
Whose word no man relies on ; 
Who never said a foolish thing, 
And never did a wise one." 

2 On the death of James, Louis XIV. recognized this son as the rightful successor 
(James III.). The Whigs called him the "Pretender:' In history he is known as the 
''Old Pretender ; " and his son, as the " Young Pretender " (Charles III.). Charles's 
brother (Henry IX.) was the last male lieir oi the Stuart line. 



1G88.] ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 511 

English Revohitiou, whicli began with the civil war, termi- 
nated after a struggle of eighty-five years. The government 
was finally fixed as a constitutional monarchy. Nothing 
was afterward heard of the divine right of kings, of taxation 
wdthout consent of Parliament, or of Star Chamber courts 
of justice. 

The Deposed King returned to Ireland with supplies 
furnished by Louis, and the Irish gallantly supported his 
cause. He besieged Londonderry, but the inhabitants de- 
fended^ themselves over three months. In the extremity of 
then- hunger, they ate rats and mice, and even chewed old 
shoes and hides, yet never spoke of surrender. At last 
the English fleet broke through the boom in the river, and 
the besiegers fled. WiUiam finally crossed into Ireland, and 
ended the war by the Battle of the Boyne (1690), where, 
though wounded, he dashed through the river, and led 
the charge. James, seeing all was lost, fled. "Change 
kings with us," said a brave Irish oflicer, "and we wiU 
fight you again." Once more Ireland was conquered, and 
the native Catholics were ground down under EngHsh 
oppression. 

William III. (1689-1702) was weak and sickly from the 
cradle ; his manner was cold, stiff, and unattractive ; and, 
in spite of his genius and nobility of character, he made few 
friends in England. The death of Mary, whose wifely devo- 
tion had sunk her life in his, and whose cheerfulness had 
brightened his duU court, left him stih. more silent and 
abstracted. The entire reign was disturbed by plots of the 
Jacobites,^ — the friends of James. They took the oath to 
William and joined his counsels only to reveal his plans to 
his enemies. William valued his crown chiefly because it 
strengthened him in caiTying out the object of his life, — to 

1 From Jacobus, the Latin for James. 



512 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [1702. 

break the power of Louis XIV. In order to gain support in 
his European wars, he yielded power to the House of Com- 
mons, which became what it is to-day, the real governing 
body. While preparing to take the field in the War of the 
Spanish Succession, he died, leaving the crown to Mary's 
sister, 

Anne (1702-14).—" Good Queen Anne," the last of the 
Stuarts, was kind-hearted, but of moderate ability, and was 
ruled by her favorite, the wife of the Duke of Marlborough. 
William's policy being continued, Marlborough ^ was placed 
at the head of the army 5 within five years he achieved four 
great victories over France (p. 493). There was a constant 
struggle between the Whigs (the war party) and the Tories 
(the peace party). The Whigs thought of the future inter- 
ests of the country ; the Tories, of the constantly growing 
national debt. Finally the Tories gained the ascendency, 
Marlborough was recalled, and the Peace of Utrecht ended 
the long contest with Louis. Anne's health was affected by 

1 The cliaracter of Marlborough— the general who stayed the progress of France, 
and who successively betrayed William III., James II., and Queen Anne— is thus 
brilliantly portrayed by Thackeray, in his novel Esmond: " Our chief, whom Eng- 
land and all Europe, saving only the Frenchmen, worshiped almost, had this of the 
godlike in him, that he was impassible before victory, before danger, before defeat. 
He was always cold, calm, resolute, like fate. He performed a treason or a court 
bow, he told a falsehood as black as Styx, as easily as he paid a compliment or spoke 
about the weather. Our duke was as calm at the mouth of the cannon as at the door 
of a drawing-room. Perhaps he could not have been the great man he was, had 
he had a heart either for love or hatred, or pity or fear, or regret or remorse. . . . He 
used all men great and small, that came near him, as his instruments alike, and took 
something of theirs, either quality or some property ; the blood of a soldier It might be, 
or a jeweled hat, or a hundred thousand from a king, or a portion out of a starving sen- 
tinel's three-farthings, and having this of the godlike in him, that he could see a hero 
perish or a sparrow fall with the same amount of sympathy. Not that he had no 
tears ; he could always bring up his reserve at the proper moment to battle ; he could 
draw upon tears and smiles alike, and whenever need was for using this cheap coin. 
He would cringe to a shoeblack, as he would flatter a minister or a monarch ; be 
haughty, be humble, threaten, repent, weep, grasp your hand, or stab you, whenever 
he saw occasion. But yet, those of the army who knew him best, and had suffered 
most from him, admired him most of all ; and, as lie rode along the lines to battle, or 
galloped up in the nick of time to a battalion reeling from before the enemy's charge 
or shet, the fainting men and officers got new courage as they saw the Bplendid calm 
of his face, and felt that his will made them irresistible." 



1714.] THE CIVILIZATION. 513 

the dissensions of lier ministers, and slie died in 1714, hav- 
ing buried all her tliirteen ebihlren. The crown then passed, 
by previous act of Parhament, to the House of Hanover, 
these being ^^ Protestant Heirs," as the law required. 

The chief political event of this reign was the union of 
Scotland with England as the Kingdom of Great Britain 
(1707). 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

Progress of Civilization. — The second century of the modern era 
was characterized by the development of literature and science, as the 
first had been by that of commerce and art. 

Literature. — English Literature still flourished. Shakspere yet 
stood at the front, and in the first decade composed his sublime trage- 
dies. Next, Fletcher, Beaumont, and "Rare Ben Jonson" followed 
their master from afar. Jeremy Taylor wrote ' ' Holy Living and Dying ;, "^ 
Richard Baxter, a famous Puritan author, published his ''Saints' Rest ; " 
and the quaint Izaak Walton, his '' Compleat Angler." After the Resto- 
ration, there were Dryden, prince of satirists ; Butler, author of t]\e 
witty ' ' Hudibras ; " and John Locke, whose ' ' Essay on the Human 
Understanding" remained a text-book in mental philosophy until 
almost our own day. Milton, who had been secretary of state under 
Cromwell, now, in blindness and poverty, dictated to his daughter the 
immortal epic, '' Paradise Lost;" while Buiiyan, shut up in Bedford 
Jail for conscience' sake, dreamed out "Pilgrim's Progress," — a book 
that has been more read than any other save the Bible. 

French Literature now reached its climax. ''No other eoimtry," says 
Maeaulay, "could produce a tragic poet equal to Racine, a comic poet 
equal to Moliere, a trifler so agreeable as La Fontaine, a rhetorician so 
skillful as Bossuet." Besides these, who were easily first, there were 
Pascal, whose "Provincial Letters" created a standard for French 
prose; Fenelon, whose "Telemachus" still retains its wonderful 
popularity ; Boileau, who has been styled the Horace of France •; 
Madame de Sevigne, whose graceful "Letters" are models of episto- 
lary style ; and Massillon, who pronounced over the bier of Louis XIV. 
a eulogy o^Dening with the suljlime words, " God alone is great." 

P/n7o.§o^)//V now boasted, in England, Bacon, the author of the "Indue- 
tive Method," that teaches men to observe tlie facts of Nature and thus 
deduce her laws. France possessed Descartes, who, by leading men to 
reason for themselves rather than to search for authority, performed 
for metaphysics the same service that Bacon had for natural science. 

B GH-30 



514 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 



Holland had Spinoza, whose sublime speculations have influenced 
many of the profoundest thinkers of the world; though, as Hallam 
remarks, "he did not essentially differ from the Pantheists of old." 
Germany contained the fourth great leader, Leibnitz, in whose encyclo- 
pedic mind philosophy, medicine, theology, jurisprudence, diplomacy, 
and mathematics were all arranged in orderly sequence. He developed 
the theory of optimism,— that, of the possible plans of creation, God 
had adopted the one which economized time, space, and matter. 




rOKTRAITS OF URYDEN, Mn;rON, AND BUNYAN. 



Science made rapid strides throughout this entire century. Galileo 
invented the telescope, and was the first to see Jupiter's moons. The 
year that Galileo died, Newton was born (1642). He wrote the "Prin- 
cipia," explained the theory of colors, and discovered the law of gravita- 
tion ; yet this wonderful man was so modest that a short time before 
his death he declared, '^I seem to myself to have been only a boy play- 
ing on the seashore, . . . while the great ocean of truth lies undis- 
covered before me." Every branch of science felt the inspiration of 
the new method. Torricelli of Florence invented the barometer ; and 
Guericke of Magdeburg, the air-pump. Harvey discovered the circula- 
tion of the blood (1619). Napier, by means of logarithms, shortened 
mathematical operations. Huyghens applied the pendulum to the 
clock. Pascal found that the air has weight. Kepler worked out his 
three famous laws of planetary motion. Horrox observed a transit of 
Venus. Roemer measured the velocity of light. Halley foretold the 
return of a comet. Louis XIV. established the French Academy of 
Sciences ; and Charles H., the English Royal Society. Science became 




THE CIVILIZATION. 515 

the fashionable thing under the later Stuarts. There was a royal 
laboratory in the palace at Whitehall, and even the court ladies prated 
of magnets and microscopes. 

Art. — The Netherlands now excelled in art, the Flemish and Dutch 
schools possessing that wonderful trio, — Rubens, Van Dyck, and Kem- 
brandt. Velasquez and Murillo were the great Spanish j)ainters. Italy 
presented nothing better than Salvator Rosa. England had a famous 
architect, — Sir Christopher Wren, — who plaimed St. Paul's Cathedral 
and fifty churches destroyed in the Great Fire in London ; but her 
native painters were of little ability, and the famous portrait of 
Charles I. was by Van Dyck, the Flemish artist, as in the previous 
century those of the Tudors were by Holbein, a German. 

LOUIS XIV. AND HIS COURT. 

The "Grand Monarcll" had extravagant ideas of the royal pre- 
rogative, and claimed absolute right over the life and property of every 
subject. His favorite motto was, 
''I am the state." Vain, imperi- 
ous, self-asserting, with large, 
handsome features, a fine figure, 
and a majestic manner,! he made 
himself the model for artists, the 

theme for poets, the one bright signature of louis xiv. 

sun whose rays all other bodies 

were to reflect. It was only by the grossest flattery and by ascribing 
every success to him that his ministers retained their places ; and the 
slightest affront by any government was the signal to set in motion his 
mighty fleet and army. The absurd adulation poured into the ear of the 
English queen a century before was repeated in the fulsome flattery at 
Versailles, and found as w^elcome reception. " That which amazeth me 
is that after all these years I do behold you the self-same queen, in per- 
son, strength, and beauty ; insomuch that I am persuaded that time, 
which catcheth everybody else, leaves only you untouched," unblush- 
ingly af&rmed even the prosaic Cecil, when Elizabeth was faded, 
wrinkled, and nearing her seventieth year. "Ah, Sire, the rain of 

1 "He walked," sa3\s Wliite, " with the tiaiui) of (lif,'nitj', rolling his eyes and turn- 
ing out hi3 toes, while the courtiers burst into loud applause. The red heels of his 
shoes, fouriuches high, added mucli to his stature, hut yet did uot bring him up to 
the standard of ordinary men. In imitation of their royal master, all gentlemen tied 
themselves in at the waist, stuck out their elbows, and walked with a strut. They 
also wore immense wigs covered with flour, flowing over their shoulders, and silver- 
buckled shoes that came nearly up to the ankle. A hat it was impossible for a 
conjurer to balance on the top of the enormous periwig, so they carried the three- 
cornered cockaded superfluity under the arms or in their hands. Rich velvet coats 
with amazingly wide skirts, brocaded waistcoats halfway to the ku»e, satin small- 
clothes and silk stockings, composed their apparel, which received its crowning 
adorumeut in gold-headed cane and diamoud-hilted sword." 



516 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



Marly does not wet/' protested the dripping Cardinal de Polignac, 
when caught in a shower at the exclusive ''rural retreat," fitted up by 
Louis and Madame de Maintenon in the king's old age. 




COURT OF LOUIS XIV. 



Tlie Court Etiquette was inflexible, from the morning presentation 
(at the end of a long cane and through the parting of the undrawn bed- 
curtains) of the royal wig, without which his Majesty was never seen, 
down to the formal tucking-in of the royal couch at night. Above all, 



THE CIVILIZATION. 517 

everywhere and always, it was The King who was the etiquette, art, 
ami fasliion of the day. His courtiers jn-ostrated themselves at his feet 
like oriental slaves. To accompany liini in his walks, to cany his cane 
or sword, to hold a taper during his toilet, to draw on his shoes, or even 
to stand and watch his rohing, were honors to live and die for. Never 
sated witli the most servile flattery, he complacently inhaled the in- 
cense due to a demi-god. 

The Palace at Versailles, built at an expense of over eighty 
million dollars, was the creation of the king, and is a symbol of his own 
character. Vast, ambitious, but coldly monotonous in effect ; magnifi- 
cent in decoration ; recklessly extravagant in the means by which its 
end w^as attained, and seeking to condense the brilliancy of the entire 
kingdom in itself, — it was the Mecca of every courtier. Stone and 
marble here became an endless series of compliment and homage to 
the royal person, and the acres of elaborate ceiling painted by Lebrun 
are a continued apotheosis, casting all 01}^npus at the royal feet. 

The Garden, with its long straight avenues bordered by alternating 
trees and statues ; its colossal fountains, where bronze or marble nymphs 
and tritons play with water brought at immense cost from afar ; its 
grand cross-shaped canal ; its terraces and orangeries ; and its flower- 
beds, arranged with stately regiilarity, — seem all an indefinite prolon- 
gation of an endless palace. 

A Brilliant Court peopled this magnificent abode. Poorly edu- 
cated himself, — being scarcely able to read or write, much less to spell, 
— Louis was munificent in his rewards to men of genius, while he appro- 
priated their glory as his own. A throng of philosophers, statesmen, 
writers, scientists, poets, and painters clustered about the throne ; and 
French thought, tastes, and language were so impressed upon foreign 
nations that all Europe took on a Parisian tinge. Here, too, were 
women of unusual wit and beauty, whose power was felt in every pub- 
lic act. Social deference and gallantry — led by the king, who, it is said, 
never passed a woman, even a chambermaid, without lifting his hat — 
gave them the political rights denied by law. They were the head and 
soul of all the endless intrigues of the time. Again, as in the days of 
chivalry, a woman's smile was the most coveted reward of valor; and 
political schemes were wrought out, not in the cabinet of a statesman, 
but in the salon of a lady. Conversation in this brilliant circle was 
made an art. "We argue and talk, night and day, morning and even- 
ing, without object, without end," w^rote Madame de S^vign^, herself 
one of the most distinguished wits of the day. Letter-writing became 
a passion, and the graceful epistles of this century are a fit sequel 
to the spicy memoirs of the preceding one. 

By common consent, the latter part of the 17th century is known in 
history as the age of Louis XIV. 



.18 



THE SEVENTEENTH OENTURT, 



SUMMARY. 

The 17th was the century of Richelieu, Gustavus Adolphus, Louis 
XIV., Cromwell, the Stuarts, Milton, Corneille, Bacon, Newton, Galileo, 
Rubens, Rembrandt, and Murillo. It saw the assassination of Henry 
IV. ; the Thirty-Years' War ; the victories of Turenne and Cond^ ; 
the Treaty of Westphalia ; the long struggle between Louis XIV. and 
William of Orange ; three great wars of the age of Louis XIV. ; the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes; the rise of Puritanism ; the battles 
of Marston Moor and Naseby ; the execution of Charles I. ; the glories 
of the Protectorate ; the restoration of the Stuarts ; and the Revolu- 
tion of 1688. 

READING REFERENCES. 

General 3fo(lern Histories named 07i p. 429, and the Hpeeial Histories of England, 
France, Germany, etc., on p. 417.— Macaulay's History of England {Chapter III., for 
Picture of Life in the Seventeenth Century).— Schiller s History of the Thirty-Years' 
War.— Gardiner's Thirty-Years' War; and the Puritan Revolution; Hale's Fall 
of the Stuarts (Epochs of History Series).— Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV.— Ban- 
croft's History of the United States {chapters relating to English statesmen and 
their views).— Taine's Ancient Regime.— Br oioniny's Great Rebellion {Hand-book 
of History Series).— Hausser's Period of the Reformation {Thirty-Years' War).— 
Trench's Lectures on Gustavus Adolphus.— Cordery and Phillpott's King and Com- 
monwealth.— Motley's John of Barneveld {Sully and Henry IV.).—Robson's Life 
of Richelieu.— Buhver Lytton's Richelieu {drama).— James's Memoirs of Great Com- 
manders {Conde and Turenne).— James's Life of Louis XIV.— Clement's Life of 
Colbert.— Mackay's Popular Delusions, art. The Mississippi Scheme, South Sea Bubble, 
etc.— Stephen's Lectures on French History.— Pardoe's Louis XlV.—Challice's Mem- 
ories of French Palaces.— James's Heidelberg ; Richelieu {fiction).— Rambaud's His- 
tory of Russia from the Earliest Times.— Dunham's Histories of Poland ; Spain 
and Portugal; and Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. — Walpole's Short History of the 
Kingdom of Ireland. 

CHRONOLOGY. 



A. D. 

Union of English and Scottish 

crowns under James I 1603 

Henry IV. assassinated 1610 

Thirty- Y ears' War 1618-48 

Age of Richelieu 1622-12 

Siege of Rochelle 1628 

Gustavus Adolphus lauds in Pome- 

rania 1630 

Siege of Magdeburg 1631 

Battle of Leipsic 1631 

Battle of Liitzen, death of Gustavus 1632 

Long Parliament meets 1640 

Battles of Rocroi, Freiburg, Nord- 

lingen, and Lens..- 1643-48 

iouis XIV.... 1643-1715 



A. D. 

Battle of Marston Moor 1G44 

Battle of Naseby 1645 

Peace of Westphalia 1648 

Charles I. beheaded 1649 

Battles of Dunbar and Worcester.. 1650-51 
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector.. 1653-58 

Great Fire in London 1666 

Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 1668 

Peace of Ximeguen 1678 

Habeas Corpus Act passed 1679 

Peter the Great 1682-1725 

Edict of Nantes revoked 1685 

William and Mary crowned 1689 

Treaty of Ryswick 1697 

Charles XII., King of Sweden 1697 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS 



519 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS 



ENGLAND. 

James I 16()3 

Charles 1 1625 

Commonwealth 1649 

Charles II 1660 

James II 1685 

William and 
Marv 1689 



FRANCE 

lleniy IV 1589 

Louis XIII.... 1610 



Louis XIV 1643 



GERMANY. 

lludolpli 1576 

Matthias 1612 

Ferdinand II.. 1619 
Ferdinand III. 1637 

Leopold I 1658 



SPAIN. 

Pliilii. Ill 1598 

Philip IV 1621 



Charles II 1665 




TIIK I'ALACE OF THE LlXEMliUKG. 



520 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

I. PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA, AND CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN. 

Kussia was founded iu the 9th century by the Norse- 
man, Ruric. Christianity (Greek, p. 321) was introduced by 
his son's wife, Olga. This Slavic land, repeatedly overrun 
by Mongol hordes (p. 405), was finally conquered by Oktai. 
For over two centuries the House of Ruric paid tribute to 
the Khan of the Golden Horde. Ivan the Great (1462-1505) 
threw off this Tartar yoke, and subdued Novgorod ; while 
Ivan the Terrible (who first took the title of Czar, 1533-84) 
conquered Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia. Feodor, Ivan's 
son, was the last of the Ruric line (1598). After years of 
civil war, the crow^n fell (1613) to Michael Romanoff, an- 
cestor of the present czar. Russia was now a powerful 
but barbarous empire, having only one seaport. Archangel, 
and without manufactures or a navy. Shut off by the 
Swedes from the Baltic and by the Tm'ks from the Black 
Sea, it had little intercourse with the rest of Europe until 
the time of 

Peter the Great. — From the age of ten, when he be- 
came joint king with his demented half-brother, this youth- 
ful czar was plotted against by his unscrupulous step-sister, 

OeograpMcal Questions.— Locate Azof; Copanhagen; Moscow; Pultowa ; 
Fredericksliall ; Warsaw; Dettingen; Fontenoy ; Raucoux; Lawfelt; Lowositz; 
Kolin; Rossbach; Leuthen ; Zorndorf; Kuneisdoif ; Torgau ; Leignitz ; Huberts- 
burg ; Potsdam ; Berlin. 

Point out Brandenburg ; Livonia ; Finland ; Electorate of Saxony ; Silesia ; Ingria. 

Locate Valiuy ; Jemmapcs; Neerwinden ; Lyons; Nice; Lodi; Parma; Pavia; 
Castiglione; Bassano; Arcole ; Mantua ; Mont Cenis ; Simplon Pass; Marengo; 
Vienna; Hohenlinden ; Ulra; Jena; Austerlitz ; Eylau ; Friedland; Tilsit; Tala- 
vera; Torres Vedras; Saragossa; Salamanca; Vittoria ; Madrid; Wagram; 
Dresden; Borodino; Moscow; Leipaic; Ligny; Waterloo. 



1689.1 



PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA. 



521 



the regent Sophia. When seventeen years old, he grasped 
the scepter for himself (1689).^ At once he began to civilize 
and elevate his savage subjects. Having organized some 
troops after the European manner and built a small flotilla, 
he sailed down the Don and captured Azof, the key of the 
Euxine, and Russia's first seaport on the south. He next 



■■■■• '-^^ "^ sJ? 

"-•■ ^;^J 




PORTRAIT OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE. 



resolved to visit foreign countries and learn the secret of 
their progress. 

Peter in Western Europe. — Leaving the government in 
the hands of an old noble, he accordingly went to Amster- 



1 The year of the devastation of the Palatinate by Louis XIV.; also that in 
which England secured a constitutional government under William III. 



522 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1697 




dam, where lie hii-ed as a la- 
borer ill a sliip-yard. Under 
the name of Peter Zimnier- 
mann, he plied his adze, 
earned his regular wages, 
lived in two rooms and a gar- 
ret, mended his clothes, and cooked his own food. Mean- 
while, besides learning how to bnild a ship, he studied the 
manufactures and institutions of this famous Dutch city, 
where he picked up blacksmithing, enough of cobbling 
to make a pair of slippers, and of surgeiy to bleed and 
to pull teeth. Then, crossing to England, he was 
heartily received by William III., and presented with a 
fine yacht, which he soon learned to manage with the 



1G9S.J CIHARLES XII. OF .SWEDEN. 523 

best of tlie sailors. On liis return to Russia, Peter began 
his 

Great Reforms. — He conmuinded his subjects to give up 
their long beards and flowing Asiatic robes. He lessened 
the power of the nobles. He encouraged the women of 
rank to come out of their oriental seclusion and mingle in 
society. He granted religious toleration and circulated the 
Bible. He introduced arithmetic into the government 
offices, where accounts had previously been kept by a system 
of balls threaded on wire. He set up printing-presses ; 
founded schools, hospitals, and paper factories 5 built a fleet, 
and organized an army. In order to gain a port on the 
Baltic, he leagued with Denmark and Poland to dismember 
Sweden. 

Charles XII., the "Madman of the North,'' then King 
of Sweden, though but eighteen years old, was boyish only 
in age, while the Swedish army retained the discipline that 
under Gustavus had won the fields of Leipsic and Llitzen. 
Undismayed by his triple foes, Charles swiftly marched to 
attack Copenhagen, and in two weeks brought Denmark to 
his feet; next, advancing with only nine thousand men 
against the sixty thousand Russians who were besieging 
Narva, he defeated them mtli great slaughter ; then, invad- 
ing Poland, he deposed its monarch, Augustus the Strong 
(1704),^ and, pursuing him into his Saxon electorate, forced 
him to sue for peace. Charles was now at the pinnacle of 
liis glory. England and France sought his alliance, and 
the conqueror of Blenheun visited his court. 

Peter, when he learned of the defeat at Narva, coolly said, 

1 " It is impossible to avoid comparing? tJio occupations and amusements of the 
three strong men of this time,— Charles, lidiu": liorscs to death, and beheading sheep 
and bullocks in order to practice with his sword ; Augustus tlie Strong, straigliteniug 
horseshoes and rolling up silver plates with duo hand; and Peter, hammering out 
iron bars, tilling fire-works, and building ships." Read Schuyler's " Peter the Great," 
Scribner's Monthly, Vol. 21 ; and " The Romanoffs," Harper's Monthly, Vol. 67. 



524 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1709. 

" These Swedes, I knew, would beat us for a time, but they 
will soon teach us how to beat them." He now strained 
every nerve to strengthen his forces while Charles was 
triumphing in Poland. He disciplined his soldiers, and 
even melted the bells of Moscow, to cast cannon. He cap- 
tured Narva, the scene of his fu'st misfortune ; pushed the 
Swedes back from the banks of the Neva; and there, 
amid its marshes, founded a great commercial city, — St. 
Petersburg. Three hundred thousand peasants were set 
at work upon the new capital, and within a year it rose 
to importance. 

Charles's Overthrow. — Rejecting every offer of peace, 
Charles, like a greater warrior a century later (p. 568), 
dreamed of dictating a treaty under the walls of Moscow, 
and rashly invaded Russia. Peter's skirmishers hung on 
the flanks of the Swedish army, destrojdng the roads and 
laying waste the coantry. Still Charles pressed on, dur- 
ing a winter so severe that two thousand men once froze 
to death almost in his presence. At Fultotva Peter gave 
him battle (1709). Though wounded, Charles was borne 
to the field in a litter. Wlien that was shattered by a 
cannon-ball, his gallant soldiers carried him about upon 
their pikes. But the Swedes had at last taught the Rus- 
sians how to conquer. Charles was overpowered, and es- 
caped into Turkey with only three hundred men. 

There he staid nearly five years, while his kingdom, de- 
prived of its head, went to ruin. The Turks at first espoused 
his cause, but, irritated by his pride and obstinacy, finally re- 
solved to expel their unwelcome guest. The heroic madman 
armed his servants, barricaded his house, and with his own 
sword slew twenty of his assailants before he submitted. ^ 

When at last he returned home, he found Sweden shorn 
of its conquests and exhausted by war. But, carried away 



1718.] PETER THE GREAT OF RUSSIA. 525 

by an insane love of glory, he invaded Norway in the depth 
of winter. Europe watched with amazement the course of 
the infatuated monarch. Suddenly news came that he had 
been shot in the trenches at Frederickshall (1718). ^ 

Peter's Latter Years were full of patriotic labors. 
As the result of his Swedish war, he gained Ingria, Livonia, 
and a part of Finland, thus affording Russia a broad front 
upon the Baltic. By a war with Persia he won land upon 
the Caspian Sea. Still his work of civilization went bravely 
on. A grateful people bestowed upon him the titles of 
the Great, and the Father of his Country. His last act was 
one of mercy. While wading out to rescue some ship- 
wrecked sailors, he caught a fever of which he died. He 
expired in the arms of his wife Catharine,^ who succeeded 
him to the crown of all the Russias (1725). 

Further Additions of territory were made by Catharine 
(II.) the Great, who conquered the Crimea, and thus gained 
control of the Black Sea. She also, in conjunction with Aus- 
tria and Prussia, dismembered Poland. The Poles, under 
Poniatowski and Kosciusko (Hist. U. S., p. 122), took an heroic 
stand in defense of their liberties. But the valor of these 
brave patriots, armed with scythes, hatchets, and hammers, 

1 " On what foundation stands the warrior's pride, 
How jnst his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide : 
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, 
No dangers fright hiru, and no labors tire. 



Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain ] 
' Think nothing gained,' he cries, ' till naught remain.' 



His fate was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand ; 
He left a name at which the world grew pale, 
To point a moral or adorn a tale." 

Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes. 
2 She was an orphan peasant girl, wlio fascinated Peter by her beauty. Tliough 
she could neither read nor write, yet her merry humor, quick intelligence, and kind 
heart held the love of this " barbarian tyrant," and soothed him in his terrible fits 
of stormy rage and liate. 



526 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1794-95. 

served only to increase the horror of their country's ruin. 
In his intrenched camp before Warsaw, Kosciusko for a time 
held his swarming foes at bay; but overpowered at last, 
bleeding and a captive, he exclaimed, "This is the end of 
Poland." Prophetic words ! The next year Poland was 
finaHy "partitioned" between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, 
Russia receiving of the robbers' spoils 181,000 square miles. 
It was the greatest crime of the 18th century. But this 
vast addition of territory brought Russia into the center of 
Europe, and gave her an interest in aU its affairs. 

II. RISE OF PRUSSIA IN THE AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Brandenburg (p. 386), to which the Duchy of Prussia 
had been added, made little figure in history until the time 
of Frederick WiUiam, the Great Elector (1640-88). A rapid, 
clear-eyed man, he dexterously used his compact, well-disci- 
plined little army, amid the complications of that eventful 
period, so as to conserve the Brandenburg interests. He en- 
couraged trade, made roads, and welcomed the Huguenots 
whom Louis XIV. drove from France. In the first year of 
the l-8th century his son Frederick received from Leopold I., 
in return for furnishing the emperor troops during the War 
of the Spanish Succession, the title of King of Prussia. 

HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG IN PRUSSIA. 

Fredeuick William, the Great Elector (1640-88). 

Frederick I., King of Prussia (1688-1713). 

Frederick William I. (1713-40). 
! 

I I I 

Frederick II. (1740-86). Augustus William. Henry. 

Frederick William li. (1786-97). 

I 



I I 

Frederick William in. (1797-1840). lewis. 

I 

I ■ I • 

Frederick William IV. (1840-61). William I. (1861). 

Frederick William Nicholas. 



1713.] TTTE RISE OF PRUSSIA. * 527 

Frederick William I. (1718-40), wlioni Carlyle calls 
the '^ Great Priis«iau Drill Serg-caut/' practiced tli(i most 
rigid economy iu order to increase his army. He permitted 
only one extravagance, — a whim for giants. A taU man he 
would bribe, kidnap), or force into his body-guard, at any 
cost.^ He left a well-filled treasury, and eighty-four thou- 
sand soldiers to his son, 

Frederick (II.) the Great (1740-8C).2— The young 
prince had seemed to be more a poet and philosopher than 
a "born king," but he now revealed himself as a military 
despot, counseling with no one, confiding in no one, and 
having but one object, the aggrandizement of Prussia. 

War of the Austrian Succession (1741-48). — The same 
year Frederick came to the throne, the emperor Charles VI. 
died, leaving his daughter Maria Theresa mistress of the 
hereditary dominions of the House of Austria — Hungary, 
Bohemia, Austria, etc. By a law known as the Pragmatic 
Sanction, the great powers of Europe had guaranteed her 
succession, but now all except England joined to rob her of 
her inheritance. Frederick at once poured his troops into 
*Silesia, which he claimed as having once belonged to Bran- 



1 Au Irishman seven feet high was hired by a bounty equal to $6,200,— a larger 
8um than the salary of the Prussian ambassador at the court of St. James. 

2 Frederick's father possessed "eccentricities such as," says Macaulay, "had 
never before been seen outside of a mad-liouse." He would cane clergymen who 
ventured to stop in the street to admire his famous soldier}', and even kick Judges 
off the bench for rendering a decision opposed to his wishes. On one occasion he 
tried to push his daughter into tJie fire, and for the least complaint from his chihlren 
at tlie table he would throw tlie dishes at their lieads. The Crown Prince Frederick 
excited the king's bitterest animosity. Fiederick showed little love for a military 
life; liked finery; studied Latin clandestinely; played the flute; wore long, curlj' 
locks; and prefeiTed the French language and manners to the homely German. His 
father flogged him in front of liis regiment, and tlieii taunted liini with the disgrace. 
At last Fritz's life became so unendurable tliat lie- tried to run away, but he was ar- 
rested, condemned by court-martial, and would have been executed by the irate king 
had not half the crowned heads in Europe intei-fered. Afterward Fritz contrived 
to soften the hatred of his surly, irascible father, and in the end proved a filial 
sequel to him, in his hearty hatred of shams, his love of a military life, and even hia 
slovenly dress and irritable temper. 



528 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1741. 



denburg. The Elector of Saxony 
invaded Bohemia. France sup- 
ported the claims of the Elector 
of Bavaria to the imperial crown, 
and a French-Bavarian army 
pushed to within a few leagues 
of Vienna. Fleeing to the Diet 




FREDERICK THE GREAT REVIEWING HIS GRENADIERS AT POTSDAM. 



of Hungary, the queen commended to it her infant son. 
The brave Magyar nobles, drawing their sabers, shouted, 
" We will die for our king, Maria Theresa ! " A powerful 
army was formed in her defense. Frederick was bought off 
by the cession of Silesia. The French, left single-handed 
to bear the brunt of the battle, were blockaded in Prague, 



1743.] THE AGE OP FREDERICK THE GREAT. 529 

and at last only by a disastrous flight escaped to the fron- 
tier. George 11. now took the field at the head of the 
English and Hanoverian troops, and defeated the French at 
Dettingen. 

Frederick, alarmed at Maria Theresa's success, and think- 
ing she might demand back his conquests, resumed the war, 
and gained three battles in succession. Meanwhile the Elec- 
tor of Bavaria died, his son submitted to Maria Theresa, 
and her husband was chosen emperor as Francis I. Fred- 
erick was only too glad to sign with Francis the Peace of 
Dresden, and thus retain Silesia. 

But the struggle of France with Austria and England 
still went on. Louis XV.'s army in the Netherlands, under 
the famous Marshal Saxe, won the brilliant victories of 
Fontenoij, Baucoiix, and Laivfelt. The peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle (1748) closed this unjust war. Louis, saying that 
he treated as a prince and not as a merchant, surrendered 
his conquests; so that France and England acquired 
nothing for all their waste of blood and treasure, while 
the King of Prussia, whose selfish policy began the contest, 
was the only real gainer, 

Seven-Years^ War (1756-63). — Eight years of peace now 
followed, — a breathing-spell that Frederick emploj^ed in 
improving his newly acquired lands, and in strengthening 
his army. Maria Theresa, however, was determined to re- 
cover Silesia, and, by the help of her great minister Kaunitz, 
formed an alliance of Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, Swe- 
den, and Poland, against Prussia. George II. of England, in 
order to save his beloved Hanover, alone supported Fred- 
erick. No one imagined Prussia could meet such tremen- 
dous odds. 

1st Campaign. — Frederick, learning of this league, determined to 
strike the first blow. Pouring his ever-ready army into Saxony, he 

B G H-31 



530 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1756. 

defeated the Austriaiis at Lo'ivoHit;: (1756), and, siuToimding the Sax- 
ons, compelled them to smTender and enlist in his ranks. 

2d Camjxiigu. — The next year he beat the Austrians under the walls 
of Prar/HC. But now misfortunes gathered fast. He met his first great 
defeat at KoJin; the Kussians invaded Prussia; the Swedes landed in 
Pomerania ; the French, after capturing the English army in Hanover, 
advanced toward Saxony ; and in tlie midst of all came tidings of the 
death of his mother, the only being whom he loved. In despair i Fred- 
erick thought of siucide, but his highest glory dates from this gloomy 
hour. Rallying his men and his courage, he turned upon his foes, and 
won the victories of Rossbach over the French, and Lcuthen over the 
Austrians. His genius set all the world to wondering. London was 
ablaze in his honor, and Pitt, the English prime minister, secured him 
a grant of £700,000 per annum. 

The 3d Canqyaign witnessed a victory over the Russians at Zorndorf, 
but saw Frederick beaten at Kiaiersdorf, while twenty thousand of his 
men surrendered in the Bohemian passes. 

4th-6th Campaigns. — Now, for three years longer, the circle steadily 
narrowed about the desperate king. Surrounded by vastly superior 
armies, he multiplied his troops by flying from point to point. Beaten, 
he retired only to appear again in some unexpected quarter. He broke 
through the enemies' toils at Leignit::, and stormed their intrenched 
camp at Torgaii. 

But victory and defeat alike weakened Frederick's forces ; his capital 
was sacked ; his land wasted ; his army decimated ; his resom*ces were 
exhausted, and it seemed as if he must yield, when a death saved him. 
Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, died, and her successor, Peter HI., his 
warm friend, not only withdrew from the league, but sent him aid. 
The other allies were weary of the contest, and the proud Maria The- 
resa was forced to make peace with her hated rival. The treaties of 
Paris and Hubertsburg (1763) ended a gigantic struggle that had cost 
a million of lives. 

The Result of the Seven- Years' War was to leave Silesia 
in Frederick's hands. He was felt to be one of the few great 
men whose coming into the world changes the fate of a 
country. Prussia, from a petty kingdom that nobody feared, 
was raised to be one of the Five Great Powers of Europe. 

1 In this extremity Frederick solaced himself by writing poetry. " We hardly 
know," says Macaulay, "any instance of the strength and weakness of human 
nature so striking and so grotesque as the character of this haughty, vigilant, reso- 
lute blue-stocking, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poison in 
one pocket and a quire of bad verses in the other." 



1763.] THE AGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 531 

She was now the rival of Austria. The question wliich 
slioukl be supreme was not settled until our own tiine.^ 
The Holy Roman Em])ire was thenceforth, in effect, divided 
between these two leaders, and the minor German states 
were grouped about them according to their interest or 
inclination. 

Government. — Frederick quickly set himself to repair 
the waste of these terrible years. He practiced the most 
rigid economy, rebuilt houses, furnished seed, pensioned 
the widows and children of the slain, drained marshes, con- 
structed roads and canals, established museums, and devel- 
oped trade. When he inherited the kingdom, it contained 
two millions of inhabitants, and a treasury with six million 
thalers ; he died, leaving an industrious and happy people 
numbering six millions, and a public treasure of seventy- 
two million thalers.^ 



1 The " Seven-Years' War" made Prussia a European power; a " Seven- Weeks' 
War" (1866) placed it above Austria; and a "Seven-Months' War" (1870) made the 
King of Prussia emperor of all Genuan3\ 

2 One of his last acts was to make a treaty with our young republic; and our his- 
torians record with pride that he sent to Washington a sword inscribed, " Tlie oldest 
general in the world to the bravest." Like liis father, he was fond of walking or rid- 
ing through the streets, talking familiarly with the people, and now and then using 
his cane upon an idler. On one occasion he met a company of schoolboys, and 
roughly addressed them, "Boys, what are you doing here? Be off to school." One 
of tlie boldest answi^red, " Oli, you are king, and don't know there is no school to- 
day ! " Frederick laughed heartily, dropped his uplifted cane, and gave the urchins 
a piece of money with which to enjoy their holiday.— A windmill at Potsdam stood 
on some ground wliich he wanted for his park, but he could not get it because the 
miller refused to sell, and he, though absolute monarch, would not force him to leave. 
This building is carefully' preserved to-day, as a monument of Frederick's respect for 
the rights of a poor man (Taylor's Hist, of Germany). The famous palace at Potsdam 
was built by Frederick just after the Seven-Years' War, to sliow the world that he 
was not so poor as was supposed. It is second only to the palace of Versailles. 
Building was Frederick's sole extravagance. After the war, he had only one tine 
suit of clothes for tlie rest of his life. It is said that he was buried in a shirt belong, 
ing to a servant. lie allowed free speech and a free press. " M3' people and I," said 
lie, "understand each other. Tliej' are to say what they like, and I am to do what I 
like." He tolerated all religious, probably because he cared for none himself. His 
infidelity, his hatred of woman, his disregard of the feelings and lives of others, 
and his share in tlie spoliation of Poland (p. ry2,j), form tlie dark side of this brilliant 
character, and leave us no chance to love, however liighly we may admire. 



532 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1714. 



III. ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 

The House of Hanover, which still wears the crown 
of England, came to the throne early in the 18th century. 
Parliament, to secure a Protestant succession, changed it 
(1701) from the male Stuart line to Sophia of Hanover, 
whose mother was sister to Charles I. Sophia having died, 
her son George, Elector of Hanover, became king (1714), 
thus uniting the crowns of Hanover and England. 

TABLE OF THE HANOVER (BRUNSWICK-LUNEBURG) LINE. 

Geokge I. (1714-27). Compare table, p. 494. 
GEORGE II. (1727-60). 

GEORGE III. (1760-1820), giamlson of George II. 

\ 

George IV. (1820-30). William IV. (1830-37). Edward, Duke of Kent. 

VICTORIA (1837). 

The political history of England under the Greorges re- 
veals an increased power of the House of Commons and a 
bitter strife between Whigs and Tories. The 18th centmy 
saw also our Revolutionary War with England. 

George I. (1714-27), a little, elderly German, unable to 
speak a word of English, cold, shy, obstinate, and suUen ; 
whose manners were as bad as his morals ; whose wife was 
imprisoned for some alleged misconduct ; and whose heart 
was always in his beloved Hanover, — naturally excited little 
feeling of loyalty among his British subjects. He was, how- 
ever, frugal, industrious, truthful, and governed by a strong 
sense of duty. A despot in Hanover, he was a moderate 
ruler in England, leaving the control of the country mostly 
to Parliament. Having been elected by the Wliigs, he chose 
his ministers from that party. 

The South Sea Scheme, or Company, was organized (1720) 
to assume a part of the national debt, and, in return, to 



1720..] ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 5313 

have a monopoly of the South American trade. It brought 
on a rage for speculation. The shares rose to ten times tlieir 
par value. Finally the bubble burst, a panic ensued, and 
thousands were ruined. In this emergency all eyes turned to 

Roherf Walpole, who was made prime minister. His finan- 
cial skill restored the pul)lic credit. For over twenty years 
(1721-42) lie controlled the domestic policy of the country. 
He was a shrewd party-leader, and is said to have managed 
the House of Commons by bribery ; but his policy made for 
peace and liberty, and meanwhile England prospered. 

George II. (1727-GO) could speak a little English, and so 
had the advantage over his father. He possessed, however, 
no kingly virtues except justice and bravery; while his 
attachment to his native country kept him interfering in 
continental affairs.^ England was thus dragged into the 
War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven- Years' War. 

In the War of the Austrian Succession, George beat the 
French at Dettingen;^ his son, the Duke of Cumberland, 
was beaten by them at Fontenoy. The Peace of Aix-la- 
ChapeUe, that closed the contest, gave England no return 
for the blood and gold her king had lavished so freely. 

In the Seven-Years^ War, England and France measured 
their strength mainly by sea, and in America and India. 
This contest is known in our history as the French and 
Indian War (Hist. U. S., p. 81). It culminated in the bat- 
tle of the Plains of Abraham, that ^vrested Canada from the 

1 George, wlio was over thirty years oUl wlien his father became king, was always 
running "liome" to Hanover. Once he was gone two years, while Queen Caroline 
remained in England. During his absence, a notice was posted on tlie gate of St. 
James's Palace : " Lost or strayed out of this house a man wlio has left his wife and six 
children on tlie parish. A reward is offered of four shillings and sixpence for news 
of his whereabouts. Nobody thinks him worth a crown (Ave shillings)." 

2 George was adapper little choleric sovereign. At Dettingen his liorse ran away, 
and he came near being carried into the enemy's line. Dismounting, he cried out, 
"Now, I know I shall not run away," and, charging at the head of his men, he en- 
couraged them with bad English but genuine pluck. It was the last time an English 
king was seen in battle. 



534 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1757. 

French. In Asia, Robert Clive, by the victory of Plassey 
(1757), broke the French power and laid the foundation of 
England's supremacy in the East.^ 

William Pitt, the Great Commoner (afterward Earl of 
Chatham), came to the front during these colonial wars. 
He ruled by the strength of his character, and " trusting his 
countrymen," says Gardiner, " above that which they were 
able to do, roused them to do more than they had ever 
done before." Under his vigorous premiership, England 
won two empires, — North America and India. 

The Rise of MetJiodism was a remarkable event of this 
reign. It began at Oxford, in the meeting of a little band 
of university men for prayer and religious conversation. 
Their zeal and methodic ways gave them the nickname of 
Methodists. But from that company went forth Wliitefield, 
such a preacher as England had never before seen ; Charles 
Wesley, the "Sweet Singer;" and John Wesley, the head 
and organizer of the new movement. " Their voice was 
heard," says Green, "in the wildest and most barbarous 
corners of the land, among the bleak moors of Northumber- 
land, in the dens of London, or in the long galleries where 
the Cornish miner hears in the pauses of his labor the sob- 
bing of the sea." They were mobbed, stoned, and left for 
dead; but their enthusiasm stirred the heart of England^ 
aroused men to philanthropic work among the English 
masses, gave to common life a spiritual meaning, started 
evangelical labors in the Established Church, and founded a 
denomination that in our time numbers its members by 
millions. 

1 The wars in India liave been cliaracterized by licudish crnelty. Thus, in tlie 
year preceding Plassey, the nabob of Beiig.-il drove one luuidred and foity-six English 
prisoners into a close room twenty feet square (kiiowu as the Black Hole), and left 
tliem to die of suffocation. The next morning only twenty-three persons remained 
alive. It is noticeable that Kngland in first meddling with, and then absorbing, 
province after province in India, has followed the old Roman plan (p. 237). 



1760.] ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER 



535 




GEORGE III. 



George III. (1760-1820) was 
a " born Euglisliiiian," and so the 
people ceased to grumble about 
"foreign kings." In his first 
speech to Parhament he said: 
" Born and educated in this 
country, I glory in the name 
of Briton." 

The purity and piety of 
George's private character gave 
to the English coiu't a beautiful 
home-life. But, though a good 
man, this '^ Best of the Georges " did not prove a good king. 
He was dull, ill educated, prejudiced, obstinate, and bent 
upon getting power for himself. The Tories got control of 
the government. Pitt retired from the ministry. George, 
jealous of great men, brought about him incompetent min- 
isters like Bute, Grenville, and North, — mouthpieces of his 
stupid will and blind courage. In such an administration, 
one easily finds the causes that cost England her American 
colonies. 

This was the longest reign in English history, and reached 
far into the 19th century. Late in his life (p. 583) the king 
became insane,^ and the Prince of Wales ruled as regent. 
The sixty years saw England involved in the War of the 
American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the War 
of 1812-14. 

1 George III. had been subject for inauj' years to occasional attacks of insanity. 
History presents no sadder figure than that of this old man, blind and deprived of 
reason, wandering through the rooms of his palace, addressing imaginary parlia- 
ments, reviewing fancied troops, and holding ghostly courts. . . . Some lucid mo- 
ments he had, in one of which the queen, desiring to see him, entered the room, and 
found him singing a hymn and accompanj'ing himself at the harpsichord. When he 
had finished, he knelt down, and prayed aloud for her, for his family, and then for 
the nation. He concluded with a prayer for himself that it might please God to avert 
his calamity from him, but if not to give him resignation to submit. Upon that he 
burst into tears, and again his reason fled (Thackeray's Four Georges). 



536 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1783-1801. 

Fox, and Pitt the Younger, were, after the American Revo- 
lution, the gi*eat statesmen of the day. The former led the 
Whigs ; the latter (second son of the Great Commoner), the 
Tories. Fox possessed eloquence and ability, but he was 
a gambler and a boon-companion of the erring Prince of 
Wales. Pitt,^ Fox's rival and his equal as an orator and 
statesman, became prime minister at twenty-four years of 
age; his policy controlled the government for eighteen 
years (1783-1801). 

IV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

Louis XV. (1715-74) was only five years old at the 
death of his great-grandfather, the Grand Monarch. The 



N.** / A^ <7 > V Cent Uvres Toumois. 



L 



/^v/ 



A BANQ.UE promet payer aa Porteur a vue Cent livres Toumois 
en Eipeces d'Argent, valeur refciie. A Paris le premier Janvier mil 





FACSIMILE OF LAW'S PAPER MONEY. 

regency feU. to the Duke of Orleans, — a man without honor 
or principle. The public debt was enormous, and the gov- 
ernment had no credit. To meet the emergency, Orleans 
adopted the project of John Law, an adventurer, and issued 
a vast amount of paper money upon the security of imagi- 

1 Pitt's cliaracter was unirapeacliable. Tlius, while his own iucome was but £300 
per year, a sinecure post with £3000 per annum became vacant, and, as he had the 
power of tilling it, every one supposed he would appoint himself to tlie place. In- 
stead, he gave it to Col. Barr6, who was old and blind. When Pitt retired from the 
ministry he was poor (compare Aristides, p. 135) 



1720.J 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 



537 



nary mines in Louisiana. But this Mississippi Bubble, like 
the South Sea Scheme (the same year) in England, burst in 
overwhelming ruin. 

An Era of Shame. — Louis 
early plunged into vice. The 
real rulers of France were liis 
favorites, Madame de Pompa- 
dour, and later the Comtesse 
du Barri. The world had not 
seen such a profligate court 
since the days of the Roman 
emperors. The War of the 
Austrian Succession and the 
Seven- Years' War had de- 
prived France of vast posses- 
sions and added hundreds of millions to the already hopeless 
debt. Louis foresaw the coming storm, and, with Pompa- 
doiu^, repeated, "After me the deluge 5 " yet he sanctioned 
the most iniquitous schemes to raise money for his vices, 
and silenced all opposition by the dungeons of the Bastile. 




LOUIS XVI., MAUIK ANTOINETTE, AND THE 
DAUPHIN. 



Louis XVI. 




PORTRAIT OF TURCOT 



(1774-93), a good, well-meaning young 
man, but shy and wof ully 
ignorant of public aff au*s, 
succeeded to this heritage 
of extravagance, folly, 
and crime, — a bankrupt 
treasmy and a starving 
people. His wife, Marie 
Antoinette, daughter of 
Maria Theresa, though 
beautiful and innocent, 
was of the hated House 
of Austria, and her ga^ 



538 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1774-89. 



met in 
May 5, 



thoughtlessness added to 
the general discontent. 
Louis desired to redress 
the wrongs of the country, 
but he did not know how.^ 
Minister succeeded minis- 
ter, like shifting figures 
in a kaleidoscope. Turgot, 
Necker, Calonne, Brienne, 
Necker again, each tried in 
vain to solve the problem. 
As a last resort, the States- 
General — which had not 
a hundred and seventy-five years — was assembled, 
1789. It was the first day of the Revolution. 




PORTKAIT OF NECKEK. 



The Condition of France at this time reveals many causes of the 
Revolution. The people were overwhelmed by taxation, while the 
nobility and clergy, who owned two thirds of the land, were nearly 
exempt. The taxes were ''farmed out," i. e., leased, to persons who 
retained all they could collect over the specified amount. The unhappy 
tax-payers were treated with relentless severity, to swell the profits of 
these farmers-general. Each family was compelled to buy a certain 
amount of salt, whether needed or not. The laws were enacted by 
those who considered the common people born for the use of the higher 
class. Justice could be secured only by bribery or political influence. 
Men were sent to prison without trial or charges, and kept there till 
death. When the royal treasury needed replenishing, a restriction of 
trade was imposed, and licenses were issued for even the commonest 
callings. The peasants were obliged to labor on roads, bridges, etc., 
without pay. In some districts every farmer had thus been ruined. 
Large tracts of land were declared game-preserves, where wild boars 
and deer roamed at pleasure. The power given to the noble over 
the peasants living on his estate was absolute. Lest the young game 
might be disturbed or its flavor impaired, the starving peasant could 
neither weed his little plot of ground nor suitably enrich it. He must 
grind his corn at the lord's mill, bake his bread in the lord's oven, and 



1 A princess of the roj'-al family, being told that the people had no bread, ex 
claimed in all simplicity, "Then why not give them cake!" 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



539 




FUENCH FAGOTVENUER (18T1I lENlUKY). 



press his gi*apes at the lord's 
wine-press, paying whatever 
price the lord miglit charge. 
When the wife of the seiguem* 
was ill, the peasants were ex- 
pected to beat the neighboring 
marshes all night, to prevent the 
frogs from croaking, and so dis- 
turbing the lady's rest. French 
agi'icnlture had not advanced be- 
yond that of the 10th century, 
and the plow in use might have 
belonged to Virgil's time. To 
complete the picture of rm-al 
wretchedness, one hundred and 
fifty thousand serfs were bought 
and sold with the land on which 
they were born. 

The strife between classes had 
awakened an intense hatred. 

The nobles not only placed their haughty feet on the necks of the 
peasants, but also spoke contemptuously of the opulent merchants, and 
artisans. In turn, the wealthy merchants hated and despised the spend- 
thrift, dissolute, arrogant hangers-on at court, whose ill-gotten revenues 
were far below their own incomes from business. 

A boastful skepticism prevailed, and all 
that is amiable in religion or elevating in 
morals was made a subject of ridicule. 
The writings of Rousseau, Voltaire, Hel- 
vetius, Diderot, and other infidels, with 
their brilliant and fascinating theories of 
liberty, weakened long-cherished truths, 
mocked at virtue, and made men restive 
under any restraint, human or divine. 

Democratic ideas were rife. Despotism 
was imendurable to men who had imbibed 
the new principles of liberty, and especially 
to those who, like La Fayette (Hist. U. S., 
pp. 119, 127), had helped the United States 
to win its freedom. Louis XVI. might 
have delayed, but could not have averted, 
the impending caiastrophe. The Revolution was but the blossoming 
of a seed planted long before, and of a plant whose slow and sui*e 
growth thoughtful men had watched for years. 




FEMALE HEAD-DRESS (18TH 
CENTUUY). 



540 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 



ri789» 



1. ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY. 

The National Assembly. — The tiers etaf, proving to 
be tlie most x^owerf iil body in the States-General, invited the 
nobles and clergy to join it, and declared itself the National 
Assembly.^ Louis closed the hall ; whereupon the members 
repaired to a tennis court near by, and swore not to separate 
until they had given a constitution to France. Soon the 
king yielded, and at his request the coronets and miters 
met with the commons. To overawe the refractory Assem- 
bly, the court collected 30,000 soldiers about Versailles. 
The Paris Mob, excited by this menace to the people's 

representatives, rose in 
arms, stormed the grim 
old Bastile,^ and razed 
its dungeons to the 
ground. The insur- 
rection swept over the 
country like wild-fire. 
As in the days of the 
Jacquerie (p. 364), cha- 
teaux were burned, and 
tax-gatherers tortured 
to death. Finally a 
maddened crowd, cry- 
ing "Bread, bread!" surged out to Versailles, sacked the 
palace, and, in savage glee, brought the royal family to Paris. 
Various political clubs began to get control. Chief of these 
were the Jacobin and the Cordelier (Brief Hist. France, 
p. 206), whose leaders — Robespierre, Marat, and Danton — 
preached sedition and organized the Revolution. 

1 This step is said to have been taken hy the advice of Thomas Jeflferson, our 
minister plenipotentiary to France. 

2 Its key, given by La Fayette to Washington, is preserved at Mount Vernon. 




THE BASTILE. 



1789.1 



THE PREN(m REVOLUTION 



541 



Reforms (1789-91 ).i — The Assembly, in a furor of pa- 
triotisiii, exting-iiished feudal privdleges, abolislied serfdom, 
and equalized taxation. The law of primogeniture was ab- 




SCENE IN I'AKIS AFTER THE STORMING OF THE BASTILE. 

rogated ; titles were annulled ; liberty of conscience and of 
the press was proclaimed; and France was divided into 
eighty-tlu-ee departments instead of the old provinces. 

1 " It was plaiu that the First Estate must bow its proud head before the five and 
twenty savage millions, make restitution, speak well, smile fairlj-— or die. The 
memorable 4th of August came, when the nobles did this, making ample confession 
of their weakness. The Viscomte do Noailles proposed to reform the taxation by 
subjecting to it every order and rank ; by regulating it according to the fortune of 
the individual; and by abolishing personal servitude and every remaining vestige 
of the feudal system. An enthusiasm, which was half fear and lialf I'eckless excite- 
ment, spread tlirougliout the Assembly. The aristocrats rose in tlieir places aiul 
publicly rem)unced their seignorial dues, privileges, and immunities. The clergy 
abolished tithes and tributes. The representative bodies resign h1 their municipal 
rights. All this availed little; it should have been done montlis before to have 
weighed with the impatient commons. The people scorned a generosity wliich 
relinquished only that which was untenable, and cared not for the recognition of a 
political equality that had already been established with the pike" (Mis8 Edwards's 
History of France). 



542 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1791 

The estates of the clergy were confiscated, and upon this 
security notes (assignats) were issued to meet the expenses 
of the government.^ Having adopted a constitution, the 
Assembly adjourned, and a new body was chosen, called 

The Legislative Assembly (1791). — The mass of its 
members were ignorant and brutal. The most respectable 
were the Girondists, who professed the simplicity and exalted 
virtue of the old Roman republic. The Jacobins, Cordeliers, 
and other violent demagogues, were fused by a common 
hatred of the king into one bitter, opposing party. 

Attack upon the Tuileries. — Austria and Prussia now 
took up arms in behalf of Louis, and invaded France. This 
sealed the fate of monarch and monarchy. Louis was known 
to be in correspondence with the princes and the French 
nobles who had joined the enemy. The approach of the 
allies, and especially the threats of the Prussian general, 
kindled the fmy of the Parisian masses. The Girondists 
made common cause with the Jacobins in stiiTing up the 
rabble to dethrone the king. The Marseillaise was heard 
for the first time in the streets of Paris. The palace of 
the Tuileries was sacked ; the Swiss guards, faithful to the 
last, were slain ; and Louis was sent to prison. 

The Jacobins, now supreme, arrested all who opposed their 
revolutionary projects. The prisons being fuU, hired assas- 
sins went from one to another for four days of that terrible 
September, massacring the unhappy inmates. A thirst for 
blood seized the populace, and even women eagerly witnessed 
this carnival of murder. 

Battle of Valmy (1792).— In the midst of these events, 
the Prussian army was checked at Valmy; soon after, it re- 



1 About this time tlic i'rigliteuud roj'iil family attempted flight in disguise. When 
almost to the frontier, they were detected, aud were brought back to the Tuileries. 
to bo watched more closely than ever (Brief Hist. France, p. 207). 



17912. J THE FRENCH REVOLTTION. 543 

crossed the frontier. The victory of Jemmapes over the Aus- 
triaiis followed, and Belgium was proclaimed a rei)ublic. 

The Effect of these successes was electrical. The leaders 
of the Revolution were elated, and the nation was encouraged 
to enter upon a career of conquest that ultimately shook the 
continent of Europe. 

The National Convention. — The next Assembly estab- 
lished a repubHc. '' Louis Capet/' as they styled the king, 
was arraigned, and, in si)ite of the timid protest of the 
Gu'ondists, was condemned and guillotined (1793). His 
head fell amid savage shouts of " Vive la Repubhque ! " 

2. THE REIGN OF TERROR (1793-94) 

Jacobin Rule. — Nearly all Europe leagued to avenge 
Louis's death. England was the soul of this coalition, and 
freely gave to it her gold and arms. The royahsts held 
Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lyons, and Toidon. An insiuTCction 
burst out in La Vendee. But the terrible energy of the 
convention crushed aU opposition. Its Committee of Public 
Safety knew neither fear nor pity. Revolutionary tribunals 
were set up, before which were dragged those suspected of 
moderation or of sympathy with the " aristocrats." Eveiy 
morning the tumbrils carried to execution the victims of 
the day. The crowd screamed with delight as Marie Antoi- 
nette,^ prematurely gray, mounted the scaffold on w^hich her 
husband had perished. The Girondists were overwhelmed 
in the ruin they had aided in creating. At^Lyons the work 
of the guillotine proved too tedious, and the victims w^re 
mowed down by grape-shot; at Nantes boat-loads were 
rowed out and sunk in the Loire. 



1 Her little son, " Louis XVII.," died after two years of horrible suffering in prison 
(Brief Hist. Frauce, p. 216). Romance has pictured this " Lost Dauphin " as saved 
and secretly conveyed to America. 



544 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1793. 



In the midst of the carnage a new calendar was instituted, to date 
from September 22, 1792, which was to be the first day of the year 1, 
the epoch of the foundation of the republic. New names were given 
to the months and days ; Sunday was abolished, and every tenth 
day appointed for rest and amusement. Christian worship was pro- 
hibited. Churches and convents were desecrated, plundered, and 
burned. Marriage was declared to be only a civil contract, which 
might be broken at pleasure. Notre Dame was converted into a 
Temple of Reason, and a gaudily dressed woman, wearing a red cap of 
liberty, was enthroned as goddess. Over the entrance to the ceme- 
teries were inscribed the words : Death is an eternal sleep. 




GIRONDISTS ON THE WAY TO EXECUTION. 



Fate of the Terrorists. — Marat had already perished 
— stabbed by Charlotte Corday, a young girl who gladly 
gave up her life to rid her country of this monster. Danton 
now showing signs of relenting, his ruthless associates 
sent him to the scaffold. For nearly four di-eadful months 
Robespierre ruled supreme. He aimed to destroy all the 
other leaders. The ax plied faster than ever as he went 



1794.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



545 




KOBESPIEKUE. 



on "purging society" by mur- 
der. The accused were forbid- 
den defense, and tried en masse} 
At last, impelled by a common 
fear, friends and foes combined 
to overthrow the tyrant. A fu- 
rious struggle ensued. When 
Robespierre's head fell (July 
28, 1794), the Reign of Terror 
ended. 

A Reaction now set in. 
The revolutionary clubs were 
abolished 5 the prison doors 

were flung wide ; the churches were opened ; the siu-viving 
Girondists were recalled, and the emigrant priests and 
nobles invited to return. 

Triumph of the French Arms (1794-95).— While the 
Terrorists were sending long lines of victims to the scaffold, 
the defenders of the new republic were pouring toward the 
threatened frontiers. Diuing the pauses of the guillotine, all 
Paris accompanied the troops outside the city gates, shout- 
ing the Marseillaise. Pichegi*u,Hoche, Jourdan,and Moreau 
led the republican armies to continued success. The royal- 
ists in La Vendee were routed, Belgium was ovei*run, and 
the Rhine held from Worms to Nimeguen. Even winter 
did not stop the progi*ess of the French arms. Pichegiii 
led his troops across the Meuse upon the ice, and, conquering 
Holland without a battle, organized the Bafavkui BepnUic. 
Peace was made with Prussia and Spain, but England and 
Austria continued the war. 



1 In the national archives of Paris, there is preserved an order of execution 
which was signed in blank, and afterward lilled up with the names of twenty-seven 
persons, one of whom was a boy of sixteen. 

BGH— 32 



546 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1795. 



Establishment of the Directory. — It had become 

apparent that the 
union in one legis- 
lative house of the 
three orders in the 
States-General was 
a mistake. It was 
therefore decided 
to have a Council of 
Five Hundred to 
propose laws, and 
a Council of the An- 
cients to pass or to 
reject them. The 
executive power was 
to be lodged in a Directory of five persons. 

The Day of the Sections (October 5, 1795).— The Con- 
vention, in order to secure its work, decreed that two thirds 
of each council should be appointed from its own number. 
Thereupon the royalists excited the Sections (as the munici- 
pal divisions of Paris were called) to rise in arms. General 
Barras (ra), who was in command of the defense, called to 
his aid Napoleon Buonaparte.^ This young ofi&cer skillfully 




COSTUMES OF THE THREE ORDERS. 



1 Napoleon Buonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, two months 
after the conquest of that island by the French. (It is claimed, however, that, not wish- 
ing to be foreign-born, he changed the date of his birth.) His father, Charles Buona 
parte, was a law- 
yer of straitened 
means. We read 
that when the fu- 
ture soldier was a 
child his favorite 
plaything was a 
small brass can- 
non, and that he 
loved to drill the 
children of the 




FACSIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, 
MUSEE DES ARCHIVES NATIONALES, PARIS. 



neighborhood to battle with stones and wooden sabers. At ten he was sent to the 



1795.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



547 



posted his troops about the Tnileries, and planted cannon 
to rake the approaches. His pitiless ^uns put the insurgents 
to flight, leaving five hundred of their number on the pave- 
ment. The people were subdued. Tlieir master had come, 
and street tumults were at an end. 



3. DIRECTORY. 

The Glory of the 

Directory lay in the 
achievements of its sol- 
diers. Napoleon Buona- 
parte, though only twen- 
ty-six years old, was put 
at the head of the army 
which was to invade 
Italy, then defended by 
the Austrian and Pied- 
montese armies. Hence- 
forth, for nearly twenty 
years, his life is the his- 
tory of France, almost 
that of Europe. 

Italian Campaign (1796-97). — Buonaparte found at 
Nice a destitute French army of thirty-eight thousand 




NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 



military school at Brienne. Resolute, quairelsome, gloom}% not much liked by 
his companions, he lived apart; feut he was popular with his teachers, and became 
the head scliolar in mathematics. At sixteen lie went to Paris to complete his 
studios. Poor and proud, discontented with his lot, tormented by the first stirrinj^s 
of genius, he became a misanthrope. He entered the army as lieutenant, and first 
distinguished himself during the siege of Toulon. By skillfully planting his batteries, 
he drove off the English fleet and forced the surrender of that city. A few days 
after the disarming of the Sections, Eugene Beauharuais, a boy of ten years, came 
to Buonaparte to claim the sword of liis father, who had fallen on the scaffold during 
the Revolution. Touched by Jiis tears, Buonaparte ordered the sword to be given 
him. This led to a call from Madame de Beauharnais. The beaut}', wit, and grace 
of the Creole widow won the heart of the Corsican general. Tlieir mutual friend, 
Barras, promised them as a marriage gift Buonaparte's appointment to the com- 
mand of the army of Italy. 



548 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1796. 

men, while in front was a well-equipped army numbering 
sixty thousand. But he did not hesitat j. Issuing one of 
those electrical proclamations for which he was afterward so 
famous, he suddenly forced the passes of Montenotte, and 
pierced the center of the enemy's line. He had now placed 
himself between the Piedmontese and the Austrians, and 
could follow either. He pursued the former to within ten 
leagues of Turin, when the King of Sardinia, trembling for 
his crown and capital, stopped the conqueror by an armis- 
tice, which was soon converted into a peace, giving up to 
France his strongholds and the passes of the Alps. 

Battle of Lodi. — Delivered from one foe, Buonaparte 
turned upon the other. At Lodi he found the Austrians 
strongly intrenched upon the opposite bank of the Adda. 
Charging at the head of his grenadiers, amid a tempest of 
shot and ball, he crossed the bridge and bayoneted the 
cannoneers at their guns. The Austrians fled for refuge 
into the Tyrol Mountains. 

Authorized Pillage. — Then commenced a system of 
spoliation unknown to modern warfare. Not only was war 
to support war, but also to enrich the victor. Contributions 
were levied upon the vanquished states. A body of savants 
was sent into Italy to select the treasures of art from each 
conquered city. The Pope was forced to give twenty-one 
millions of francs, one hundred pictures, and five hundred 
manuscripts. The wants of the army were supplied, and 
millions of money forwarded to Paris. The officers and com- 
missioners seized provisions, horses, etc., paying nothing. 
A swarm of jobbers, contractors, and speculators ho veiled 
about the army, and gorged themselves to repletion. The 
Italians, weary of the Austrian yoke, at first welcomed the 
French, but soon found that their new masters, who came 
as brothers, plundered them like robbers. 



179G.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



549 



Battles of Castiglione and Bassaito. — Sixty thousand Aus- 
trians, under Wurmser, were now marching in separate divi- 
sions on opposite sides of Lake Garda, in order to envelop 
the French in theii* superior numbers. Buonaparte first 
checked the force on the western bank, then routed the main 
body at Castiglione. Wurmser fell back into the T;yTol. 




UUONArAKl'E AT THE BRIUGE OF ARCOLE. 



Reenforced, he made a new essay. But ere he could debouch 
from the passes, Buonaparte plunged into the gorges of the 
mountains, and defeated him again at Bassano. 

Battle of Arcole. — Two Austrian armies had disappeared ; 
a third now arrived under Alvinczy. Leaving Verona with 



550 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [1796. 

only fourteen thousand men, Buonaparte took the road for 
Milan. It was the route to France. Suddenly turning to 
the north, he descended the Adige, crossed the river, and 
placed Ms army in the midst of a marsh traversed only by 
two causeways. Fighting on these narrow roads, numbers 
were of no account. At the bridge of Arcole, Buonaparte, 
seeing his grenadiers hesitate, seized a banner, and exclaim- 
ing, "Follow your general," rushed forward. Borne back 
in the arms of his soldiers, during the melee he feU into the 
marsh, and was with difficulty rescued. A ford was finally 
founid and the bridge was turned. A fearful struggle of 
three days ensued, when the Austrians, half destroyed, were 
put to flight. 

Battle of Bivoli. — ^Alvinczy, reenforced, again descended 
into Italy. The principal army advanced in two columns, — 
the infantry in one, and the cavalry and artillery in the other. 
Buonaparte saw that the only point where they could unite 
was on the plateau of RivoH. As they debouched, he 
launched upon them Joubert, and then Massena> Both of 
the enemy's columns recoiled in inextricable confusion. 

Having vanquished three imperial armies in Italy, Buona- 
parte next crossed the Alps, and advanced upon Vienna. 
The Austrian government, in consternation, asked for a sus- 
pension of arms. 

The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) closed this famous 
campaign. Belgium was ceded to France, with the long- 
coveted boundary of the Rhine. Austria was allowed to 
take Venice and its dependencies. 

Neighboring Republics. — The Dii-ectory endeavored 
to control the neighboring states as if they were French 

1 Mass6na's divisiou fouglit at Verona on the 13th of Januarj% marched all that 
ni^ht to help Joubert, who was exhausted by forty-eight hours' ligliting, was In the 
battle of Rivoli the 14th, and marched that night and the 15tli to reach Mantua on the 
16th. Marches, wliich with ordinary generals were merely the movements of troops, 
v^ith Buonaparte meant battles, and often decided the fate of a campaign. 



1798.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



551 



provinces; to change their form of government: and to 
exact enormous contributions. At the close of 1798 the 
Dii'ectory found itself at the head of no less than six re- 
publics, including Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. 




THE PYKAMIUS OF EGYPT. 



An Expedition to Egypt (1798-99) having been pro- 
posed by Buonaparte, and accepted by the Directoiy, the 
conqueror of Italy, eager for new triumphs, set sail Tvdth 
thirty-six thousand men, — the heroes of Rivoli and Arcole. 
On his way he captured Malta, but narrowly escaped the 
English cruisers under Nelson. Landing near Alexandria,! 
Buonaparte at once pushed on to Caii'o, defeating the Mame- 
lukes under the shadow of the Pwamids.^ But soon after 
Nelson annihilated the French fleet in the Bay of Abouku*. 
Cut off thus from Europe, Buonaparte, dreaming of found- 
ing an empire in the East and overthrowing the British rule 
in India, turned into Syi'ia. The walls of Acre, however, 
manned by English sailors under Sidney Smith, checked 
his progress; and, after defeating the Turks with terrible 



1 During this occupation of Egypt, a French eugineei (liscoverod tlie Rosetta 
stone,— the key to reading the Egyptian hieroglyphics (see p. 22). 

2 " Soldiers I" exclaimed Buonaparte, "from yonder pyramids forty centuries look 
down upon you." 



552 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



[1798. 



slaughter at the foot of Mount Tabor, he retreated across 
the desert to Egypt. There he secretly abandoned his army, 
and returned to France. 

At Paris he was gladly welcomed. ^' Then^ Five Majes- 
ties of the Luxemburg/' as the Directors were styled, had 
twice resorted to a coup 
d^etaf,^ to preserve their 
authority in the Coun- 
cils. Foreign disgrace 
had been added to do- 




BUONAPAUTE BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF FIVE HUNDKED. 

mestic anarchy. A Second Coalition (composed of England, 
Austria, Russia, etc.) having been formed against France, 
the fruits of Campo Formio had been quickly lost. The 
French armies, forced back upon the frontier, were in want. 
A panic of fear seized the people. The hero of Italy offered 
the only hope. A new coup dieted was planned. Buona- 



1 This is a word for which as yet happily, we hare uo English equivalent. It is 
literally " a stroke-of -state." 



1799.] THE CIVILIZATION. 553 

parte's grenadiers drove the members of the Council of Five 
Hundred from their chamber, as Cromwell's soldiers had' 
driven the Long Parliament a century and a half l}efore. 
The roll of the drums drowned the last cry of " Vive la 
R^puhlique" 

A new Constitution was now adopted. The government 
was to consist of a Council of State, a Tribune, a Legisla- 
ture, a Senate, and three Consuls, — Buonaparte and two 
others named by him. In February, 1800, the First Consul 
took up his residence in the Tuileries. The Revolution had 
culminated in a despot. 

THE CIVILIZATION. 

The Progress of Letters. — Queen Anne's reign was the Augustan 
age of Latglish Literature. Questions of party politics, society, life, 
and character were discussed; and wit, ridicule, and satire were 
employed as never before. The affluence of the old school of authors 
gave way to correctness of form and taste. Pope's ' ' Essay on Man " and 
"Essay on Criticism," with their "sonorous couplets brilliant with an- 
tithesis," are yet admired. Swift's " Gulliver's Travels " satirized the 
manners and customs of the time. Addison and Steele, in their peri- 
odicals the '^ Tattler" and the '' Spectator," popularized literature, and 
"brought philosophy," as Steele expressed it, ''out of libraries, schools, 
and colleges, to dwell in clubs, at tea tables, and in coffee-houses." 
The style of Addison was long considered a model of graceful, elegant 
prose. De Foe's *' Robinson Crusoe " still charms the heart of every boy. 

Samuel Johnson, with his ponderous periods, is to us the principal 
figure of English literature from about the middle of the 18tli century. 
In his ''English Dictionary" he was the first author who appealed for 
support directly to the public, and not to some gi'eat man. He estab- 
lished a realm of letters, and long held in London a literary court in which 
he ruled as imdisputed king. Literature had begun to take its present 
form ; newspapers commenced to play a part ; a new class of men arose, 
— the journalists ; and authorship assumed fresh impulses on every hand. 
Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett laid the foundation of the modern 
novel. Thompson's "Seasons," Gray's " Elegy in a Country Church- 
yard," Goldsmith's "Traveler" and "The Deserted Village," Cowper's 
"Task," and Burns's "The Cotter's Saturday Night," were familiar 
stepping-stones in the progress of poetry into a new world, that of 



554 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



nature. Burke, by his sounding sentences and superb rhetoric, made 
the power of letters felt by every class in society. Hume wrote the 
''History of England;" and Robertson, that of Charles V., — the first 
literary histories in our language. Gibbon's ''Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire " elevated historical study to the accuracy of a scientific 
treatise. Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" founded the science of 
political economy. 




In France, the 18th century was preeminently an age of infidelity 
and skepticism. Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, as well as Diderot, 
D'Alembert, and the other liberal thinkers who wrote upon the En- 
eyclopgedia, while they urged the doctrines of freedom and the natural 
rights of man, recklessly assaulted time-honored creeds and institutions. 

In Germany, the efforts of Lessing, Winckelmann, Klopstock, and 
other patriots, had created a reaction against French influence. The 
" Twin Sons of Jove," as their countrymen liked to call them, — Schiller, 
with his impassioned lyrics, and Goethe, one of the profoimdest poets 
of any age or country, — elevated German literature to a classical per- 
fection. The philosophical spirit gathered strength from this triumph, 
and gave birth to those four great teachers — Kant, Fiehte, Hegel, and 
Schelling — who afterward laid the foundation of German metaphysics. 

Both the French and the German writers exerted a powerful effect 
upon England, and, from the dawn of the French Revolution far into 
the 19th century, produced a remarkable outburst of literature. The 



THE CIVILIZATION. 55;> 

philosophic mind finds congenial employment in tracing their respec- 
tive influence upon the writings of Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, 
Southey, Moore, Shelley, and Byron, — all of whom burned to redress 
the wrongs of man, and dreamed of a golden ago of human perfection. 

Science now spread so rapidly on every side, that one strains his 
eyes in vain to trace the expanding stream. Chemistry took on its pres- 
ent form. Black discovered carbonic-acid gas ; Cavendish, hydrogen 
gas ; Priestley and Scheele, oxygen gas ; and Rutherford, the properties 
of nitrogen gas. Lavoisier proved that respiration and combustion are 
merely forms of oxidation, and he was thus able to create an orderly 
nomenclature for the science. Physics was enriched by Black's dis- 
covery of the latent heat of melting ice. Franklin, experimenting with 
his kite, imprisoned the thunderbolt. Galvani, seeing the twitching of 
some frogs' legs that were hanging from iron hooks, found out the mys- 
terious galvanism. Volta invented a way of producing electricity by 
chemical action, and of carrying the current through a wire both ends of 
which were connected with the battery. Dollond invented the achro- 
matic lens that gives the value to our telescope and microscope. Fah- 
renheit, Reaumm*, and Celsius first marked ofE the degrees upon the 
thermometer (Steele's Popular Physics, p. 249), thus furnishing an 
instrument of precision. In Astronomy, Lagrange proved the self -regu- 
lating, and therefore permanent, nature of the orbits of the planets ; 
Laplace, in his "Mecanique Celeste," developed Newton's theory of 
gravitation, and explained the anomalies in its application ; and finally, 
Herschel, with his wonderful telescope, detected a planet (Uranus, see 
Steele's Astronomy, p. 189) called for by this law, and in the cloudy 
nebulae found the workings of this same universal force. Natural 
History was popularized by Biiffon, who gathered many new facts, and 
detected the influence of climate and geography upon the distribution 
of animals. Lamarck began to lay the foundation of the theory of 
evolution. Cuvier found out the relation of the different parts of an 
animal, so that from a single bone he could restore the entire structure. 
Hutton taught how, by watching the changes now going on in the 
earth's crust, we may detect natm-e's mode of making the world, or 
the science of Geology. Linnaeus, by the system still called from his 
name, gave to Botany its fitst orderly arrangement. 

Progress of Invention. — In 1705, Newcomen and Cawley patented 
in England the first steam-engine worth the name ; and James Watt 
in 1765 invented the condenser that, with other improvements, rendered 
this machine commercially successful. The application of steam 
power to machinery wrought a revolution in commerce, manufac- 
tures, arts, and social life, and immensely aided in the progress of civil- 
ization. The difference between the mechanical workmanship of the 
18th and 19th centuries may be seen in the almost incredible fact that 
Watt, in making his first engine, found his greatest difficulty from the 



556 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

impossibility of boring, with the imperfect tools then in use, a cylinder 
that ivas steam-tight. Before the end of the century, several trial steam- 
boats were made, both in Europe and in America, and ere long, as every 
schoolboy knows, Fulton regularly navigated the Hudson. 

Until the 16th century, spinning was done by the distaff, as it had 
been from Homer's time. The spinning-wheel of our ancestors was 
the first improvement. Hargreaves, about 1767, combined a number of 
spindles in the spinning- jenny (so named after his wife). Arkwright 
soon after patented the spinning-mill driven by water; and in 1779 
Crompton completed the mule, or carriage for winding and spinning. 
In 1787, Cartwright invented the power-loom. Eli Whitney, six years 
later, made the cotton-gin. Such was the impetus given to cotton rais- 
ing and manufacture by these inventions, that, while in 1784 an invoice 
of eight bags of cotton was confiscated at Liverpool on the ground that 
cotton was not a product of the United States, fifty years afterward we 
sent to England 220,000,000 pounds of cotton. 

ENGLAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

The Law recognized two hundred and twenty-three capital crimes. 
For stealing to the value of five shillings, for shooting at rabbits, or 
for cutting down young trees, the penalty was death. Traitors were 
cut in pieces by the executioner, and their heads exposed on Temple 
Bar to the derision of passers-by. Prisoners were forced to buy from 
the jailer (who had no salary) their food, and even the straw upon which 
to lie at night. They were allowed to stand, chained by the ankle, out- 
side the jail, to sell articles of their own manufacture. Thus, John Bun, 
yan sold cotton lace in front of Bedford prison. The grated windows 
were crowded by miserable wretches begging for alms. Many innocent 
persons were confined for years because they could not pay their jail 
fees. In 1773, Howard began his philanthropic labors in behalf of pris- 
on reform, but years elapsed before the evils he revealed were corrected. 
On the Continent, torture was still practiced ; the prisons of Hanover, 
for example, had machines for tearing off the hair of the convict. 

A General Coarseness and Brutality existed in society. Mas- 
ters beat their servants, and husbands their wives. Profanity was 
common with ladies as well as gentlemen. Lawyers swore at the bar ; 
judges, on the bench ; women, in their letters ; and the king, on his 
throne. No entertainment was complete unless the guests became 
stupidly drunk. Children of five years of age were habitually put 
to labor, and often driven to their work by blows. In mines women 
and children, crawling on their hands and feet in the darkness, dragged 
wagons of coal fastened to their waists by a chain. Military and naval 
discipline was maintained by the lash, and in the streets of every sea- 
port the press-gang seized and carried off by force whom it pleased, 
to be sailors on the men^ofrwar 



SUMMARY. 557 

London Streets were lighted only in winter and until midnight, 
by diiu oil-lamps, Tlie services of a link-boy with liis blazing torch 
were needed to liglit one home after dark, since footpads lurked at the 
lonely corners, and, worst of all, bands of aristocratic young men (known 
as Mohocks, from the Mohawk Indians) sauntered to and fro, overturn- 
ing coaches, pricking men with their swords, rolling women down-hill 
in a barrel, and sometimes brutally maiming their victims for life. 

In the Country the roads were so bad that winter traveling was 
well-nigh impossible. The stage-coach (with its armed guards to pro- 
tect it from highwaymen), rattling along in good weather at four miles 
per hour, was considered a wonderful instance of the progress of the 
times. Lord Campbell accomplished the journey from Edinburgh to 
London in three days ; but his friends warned him of the dangers of 
such an attempt, and gravely told him of persons venturing it who had 
died from the very rapidity of the motion. Each town dwelt apart, 
following its own customs, and knowing little of the great world outside. 
There were \allages so secluded that a stranger was considered an 
enemy, and the inhabitants set their dogs upon him. Each house- 
holder in the country grew his own wool or flax, which his wife and 
daughters colored with dyes of their own gathering, and spun, wove, 
and made into garments themselves. 

Education. — In all England there were only about three thousand 
schools, public and private, and, so late as 1818, half of the children 
grew up destitute of education. The usual instruction of a gentleman 
was very superficial, consisting of a little Latin, less Greek, and a good 
deal of dancing. Female education was even more deplorable, and 
at fourteen years of age the young lady was taken out of school and 
plunged into the dissipations of fashionable society. Newspapers 
were taxed fourpence each copy, mainly to render them too costly for 
the poor, and so to restrain what was considered their evil influence 
upon the masses. 

SUMMARY. 

The 18th was the century of Marlborough, Peter the Great, Charles 
XII., Maria Theresa, William Pitt, the Georges, Louis XVI., Marie An- 
toinette, Robespierre, Buonaparte, Addison, Steele, Swift, Pope, Sam- 
uel Johnson, Gibbon, Burns, Burke, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller, Kant, 
Canova, Handel, Mozart, Cuvier, Franklin, Laplace, Lavoisier, Gal- 
vani, Herschel, ArkAvright, Watt, and Whitney. It saw the Wars of 
the Spanisli and of the Austrian Succession ; the Seven-Years' War ; 
the rise of Russia and of Prussia ; the American Revolution ; the Par- 
tition of Poland; and the opening of the French Revolution, — includ- 
ing the execution of Louis XVI., the Reign of Terror, and Buonaparte's 
Italian and Egyptian Campaigns. 



558 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 



READING REFERENCES. 

Tlie General Modern Histories named on p. 429, and the Special Histories of Eng- 
land, France, Germany, etc., on p. 418.— Lec/cy's England in tJie 18th Century.— Alli- 
son's History of Europe {Tory standpoint).— Voltaire's Peter the Great, and Cliarles 
XII.— Schuyler's Peter the Great {Scribner's Magazine, Vol. XXI.).—Carlyle's 
Frederick the Great— Longman' s Frederick the Great and the Seven-Years' War.— 
Lacretelle's History of France during the 18th Century.— Be Tocqueville's France 
before the Revolution.— The French Revolution {Epochs of History Series. TJie Ap- 
pendix of this book contains an excellent resume of reading on this subject, by Andrew 
D. White).— Lamar tine's History of the Girondists.— Carlyle's, Mignets, Macfarlane's, 
Readhead's, Michelet's, Thiers's, and Von Syhel's Histories of the French Revolution. 
—Lanfrey's History of Napoleon.— Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution.— 
Lewis's Life of Robespierre.— Adams's Democracy and Monarchy in France {excellent 
and discriminating).— Dickens's Tale of Two Cities (fiction).— Thiers's Consulate and 
Empire.— 3Iemoirs of Madame Campan, and of Madame Roland.— Erkmann-Cha- 
trian's Blockade, Conscript, Waterloo, etc. {fiction).— Abbott's, Hazlitt's, Scott's, and 
Jomini's Life of Napoleon.— RusseVs Essay on the Cause of the French Revolution.— 
Mackintosh's Defense of the French Revolution.— Napier's Peninsular War.—Kav- 
anagh's Woman in France.— Davies's Recollections of Society in France.— Challice's 
Illustrious Women of France.— Citoyenne Jacqueline, or a Woman's Lot in the French 
Revolution.— Madame Junot's {the Duchesse d'Abrantes) Memoirs of Napoleon, his 
Court and Family.— Thackeray's The Four Georges.— Madame de Remusat's Letters 
{Napoleon's character).— Memoirs of Prince Metternich {177S-1829).— Saint- Amand's 
many historical works.— Amelia Gere Mason's Women of the French Salons. 



CHRONOLOGY. 



A. D. 

Battles of Blenheim, Ramllies, 

Oudenarde, and Malplaquet 1704-09 

Union of England and Scotland — 1707 

Battle of Pultowa 1709 

Treaty of Utreclit 1713 

Guelfs ascend English throne 1714 

Charles XII. killed at Frederickshall 1718 

Frederick tlie Great, Age of 1740-86 

Seven-Years' War ._ 1756-63 

First Partition of Poland 1772 



A. D. 

American Kevolution 1775-83 

Meeting of States-General 1789 

Attack on Tuileries, Aug. 10 1792 

Battle of Jemmapes 1792 

Louis XVI. guillotined, Jan. 21 1793 

Reign of Terror 1793-94 

Third Partition of Poland 1795 

Napoleon's Campaign in Italy 1796 

Battle of the Nile 1798 

Buonaparte First Consul 1799 



CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGMS 



ENGLAND. 

William and 

Mary 1689 

Anne 1702 

George I 1714 

George II 1727 

George III 1760 



FRANCE 

Louis XIV 1643 

Louis XV.. 1715 

Louis XVI 1774 

Republic 1793 



GERMANY. 
Leopold I 1658 

Joseph I 1705 

Charles VI 1711 

Charles VII ... 1742 

Francis 1 1745 

Joseph II 1765 

Leopold II 1790 

Francis II 1792 



PRUSSIA. 



Frederick I 1701 

WilUam I 1713 



Frederick II... 1740 



William II 1786 

William III.... 1797 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 559 

THE NINETEENTH CENTUllY. 

I. FRANCE. 

FRENCH REVOLUTION (Continued)A—4. THE CONSULATE (1800-04). 

Austrian War (1800).— England, regarding Buonaparte 
as a usiu'per, refused to make peace, and hostilities soon 
began. The First Consul was eager to renew the glories of 
his Italian campaign. Poiuing his army over the Alps, he 
descended upon Lombardy like an avalanche. The Aus- 
trians, however, quickly rallied from their sui-prise, and, 
unexpectedly attacking him upon the plain of Marengo, 
swept all before them. At this junctm-e Desaix, who with 
his division had hastened thither at the sound of cannon, 
dashed upon the advancing colunm, but fell in the charge. 
Just tlien, Kellerman, seeing the opportunity, hurled his 
terrible dragoons upon the flank of the column, and the 
Austrians broke and fled. 

Effect. — This single battle restored northern Italy to its 
conqueror. Meantime General Moreau had di*iven back the 
Austrian army in Germany step by step, and now, gaining 
a signal victory at HoJienlinden, he pressed forward to the 
gates of the Austrian capital. The frightened monarch 
consented to 

The Treaty of LunevilJe, which was nearly Hke that of 
Campo Formio. England did not make peace until the 
next year, when Pitt's retii-ement from office paved the way 
to the Treaty of Amiens (1802). 

Government. — " I shall now give myself to the adminis- 
tration of France," said Buonaparte. The opportunity for 
reorganization was a rare one. Feudal shackles had been 

1 The pupil will bear in tiiIihI that the FUEXCH Revolution, whicli begau in 
1789 (p. 538), lasted until the Restouation of the Boukboxs in 1814-15, thus being 
the opening event of tlie present century. 



1802-OG.] 



THE FRENTH REVOT.UTTON. 



561 



thrown off, laud had been set free, Jiiid the nation had per- 
fect confidonci^ in its brilliant leader. Coniinerce, agricul- 
ture, manufactures, education, religion, arts, and sciences, — 
each received his careful thought. He restored the Catholic 
Church in accord- 
ance with the cele- 
brated Concordat 
(1801), whereby 
the Pope re- 
nounced all claim 
to the lands con- 
fiscated by the 
Revolution, and 
the government 
agreed to provide 
for the mainte- 
nance of the clergy. He estabhshed a uniform system of 
weights and measures, known as the Metric System (1801). 
He fused the conflicting laws into what is still caUed the 
Napoleonic Code. He abolished the fantastic repubhcan 
calendar (1806). He erected magnificent bridges across 
the Seine. He created the Legion of Honor, to reward 
distinguished merit. He repaired old roads and built new 
ones, among which was the magnificent route over the 
Simplon Pass into Italy, even now the wonder of travelers. 




THE TEMPLE OF GLOUY. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION {Continued).— b. THE EMPIRE (1804-14). 

Buonaparte becomes Emperor. — So general was the 
confidence inspired in France by Buonaparte's administra- 
tion, and so fascinated was the nation by his miUtary achieve- 
ments, that, though he recklessly violated the Hberties of the 
people and the rights of neighboring countries, when the 
senate proclaimed him Emperor Napoleon I., the popular 



562 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1804. 



vote ratifying it showed only twenty-five hundred noes. At 
the coronation Pius VII. poured on the head of the kneeling 
sovereign the mystic oil; but when he lifted the crown, 
Napoleon took it from his hands, placed it on his own head, 

and afterward crowned 
Josephine empress. As 
the hymn was sung 
which Charlemagne 

heard when saluted Em- 
peror of the Romans, 
the shouts within the 
walls of Notre Dame 
reached the crowd with- 
out, and all Paris rung 
with acclamation. Cross- 
ing the Alps, the new 
emperor took at Milan 
the iron crown of the 
Lombards, and his step- 
son Eugene Beauharnais received the title Viceroy of Italy. 
The empire of Charlemagne seemed to be revived, with its 
seat at Paris instead of Aix-la-ChapeUe. 

Campaign of Austerlitz. — A Third Coalition (consist- 
ing of England, Austria, and Russia) was formed to resist 
the ambitious projects of " The Soldier of Fortune." Napo- 
leon, having akeady collected at Boulogne an admirably 
disciphned army and a vast fleet, threatened England, 
Learning that Austria had taken the field, he suddenly 
threw two hundred thousand men across the Rhine, sur- 
prised and captured the Austrian army at Ulm, and entered 
Vienna in triumph. Thence pressing forward, he met the 
Austro-Russian force, under the emperors Francis and 
Alexander, at the heights of 




EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 



1805.J THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 563 

Aitsterlifz (1805). — With ill-concealed joy, in which his 
soldiers shared, he watched the allies marching their troops 
past the front of the French position in order to turn his 
right flank. Waiting nntH this ruinous movement was past 
recall, he suddenly launched his eager veterans upon the 
weakened center of the enemies' line, seized the plateau of 
Pratzen, — the key of their position, — isolated their left wing, 
and then cut up their entire army in detail. " The Sun of 
Austerlitz " saw the coaUtion go down in crushing defeat.^ 

Treaty of Preshurg.—Mter the " Battle of the Three Em- 
perors," Francis came a suppUant into the conqueror's tent. 
He secui*ed peace at such a cost of territory that he sui*- 
rendered the title of German emperor for that of Emperor 
of Austria (1806). Thus ended the Holy Roman Empire, 
which had lasted over a thousand years (p. 375). 

Battle of Trafalgar. — The day after the thunder- 
stroke at Ulm, Nelson, with the English squadron off Cape 
Trafalgar, annihilated the combined fleet of France and 
Spain. Henceforth Napoleon never contested with Eng- 
land the supremacy of the sea. 

Royal Vassals. ^-On land, however, after Austerlitz, no 
one dared to resist his will. To strengthen his power, he 
surrounded France with fiefs, after the manner of the mid- 
dle ages. Seventeen states of Germany were united in the 
Confederation of the Rhine, in close alliance with him. His 
brother Louis received the kingdom of Holland; Jerome, 
that of Westphalia ; and Joseph, that of Naples. His brother- 
in-law Murat was assigned the grandduchy of Berg ; Marshal 
Berthier, the province of Neuchatel ; and TaUeyi'and, that of 
Benevento. Bernadotte was given Pontecorvo, but later 



1 When Pitt received the news of Austerlitz, he exclaimed, " Roll up the map of 
Europe: it will uot he wanted these ten years." Then, falling into a dying stupor, he 
awoke only to murmur. "Alas, my country I " 

BGH-33 



564 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1806. 




he was allowed to 
accept tlie crown of 
Sweden. In all, over 
twenty principali- 
ties were distributed 
among liis relatives 
and friends, wlio 
were henceforth ex- 
pected to obey him 
as suzerain. 

War with Prus- 
sia (1806).— Prus- 
sia's humiliation was to come next. A Fourth Coalition 
(Prussia, Russia, England, etc.) had now been formed 
against France, but the Grand Army was still in Germany, 
and, before the Prussians coidd prepare for war, Napoleon 
burst upon them. In one day he annihilated their army 
at Jena and Aicerstadt, and thus, by a single dreadful 
blow^ laid the country prostrate at his feet. Amid the 



NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE AT 8T. CLOUD. 



1806.] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 5G5 

tears of the people, he entered BerUn, levied enormous 
contributions/ pkmdered the museums, and even rifled the 
tomb of Frederick the Great. 

Berlin Decrees (1806). — Unable to meet England on 
the ocean, Napol(3on determined to destroy her commerce, 
and issued at Berlin the famous decrees prohibiting- British 
trade.2 The Continental System, as it was called, was, 
however, a failure. Napoleon had no navy to enforce it, 
and EngUsh goods were smuggled wherever a British vessel 
could float. It is said that Manchester prints were worn 
even in the Tuileries. 

War with Russia (1807). — Napoleon next hastened 
into Poland to meet the Russian army. The bloody battle 
of Eylau, fought amid blinding snow, was indecisive, but the 
victory of Friedland forced Alexander to sue for peace. The 
two emperors met upon a raft in the river Niemen. By the 
Treaty of Tilsit, they agreed to support each other in their 
ambitious schemes. 

Peninsular War. — Napoleon sought, also, to make 
Spain and Portugal subject to France. On the plea of en- 
forcing the Continental System, Junot was sent into Por- 
tugal, whereupon the royal family fled to Brazil. The 

1 To raise the amount, the womeu gave up their oimimeuts, aud wore riugs of 
Berlin iron,— since then noted in the patriotic annals of Prussia. "This country fur- 
nishes a curious and perhaps unique example of a despotic monarchy forced by a 
despotism stronger than itself to seek defense in secret association. When Prussia 
lay crushed under the merciless tyranny of Napoleon, Baron Steiu, the prime minis- 
ter, bethought him how he could rouse the German spirit and unite the country 
against the invader. He devised the Tugendbund, or League of Virtue (1807), which 
spread rapidly over the country, and soon numbered in its ranks the flower of the 
people, including the very highest rank. Its organization and discipline were per- 
fect, and its authority was unbounded, although the source was veiled in the deepest 
secrecy. One of the motives hy which Stein kindled to white-heat the enthusiasm 
of the people was the hope of representative institutions and a free press; but the 
king did not hesitate to violate his roj^al promise when its purpose was served. The 
Tugendbund contributed powerfullj' to the resurrection of German national life in 
1813, and to the overthrow of Napoleon." 

2 They made smuggling a capital offense. A man was shot at Hamburg merely 
lor having a little sugar in his house. 



566 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1808. 

imbecile King of Spain being induced to abdicate, the 
Spanish crown was placed npon the head of Napoleon's 
brother Joseph, while Naples was transferred to Murat. 

But Spain rebelled against the hated intruder. The entire 
kingdom blazed with fanatic devotion. More Frenchmen 
perished by the knife of the assassin than by the bullet of 
the soldier. Joseph kept his ill-gotten throne only eight 
days. The English, who now for the first time fought 
Napoleon on land, crossed into Portugal, and Sir Arthur 
WeUesley quickly expelled the French. 

Napoleon was forced to come to the rescue with the 
G-rand Army. By three great battles he reached Madrid 
and replaced Joseph upon the throne, while Marshal Soult 
pursued the English army to the sea, where it took ship for 
home.^ 

War with Austria (1809).— A Fifth. Coalition (England, 
Austria, Spain, and Portugal) having been organized to stay 
the progress of France, Austria took advantage of the ab- 
sence of the Grand Army in Spain, and opened a new cam- 
paign. Napoleon hurried across the Rhine, and in five days 
captured sixty thousand prisoners, and drove the Austrians 
over the Danube. 

Battles of Aspern and Wagram. — But while the French 
were crossing the river in pursuit, the Austrian army fell 
upon them with terrible desperation. During the struggle 
the village of Aspern was taken and retaken fourteen times. 
Napoleon was forced to retreat. He at once summoned 
reenforcements from all parts of his vast dominions, and, 
recrossing the stream in the midst of a wild thunderstorm. 



1 The gallaut Sir John Mooro, then in commancl, was mortally wounded just 
beforo the embarkation. His body, wrapped in his military cloak, was hastily buried 
on the ramparts, 

"By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 
And the lantern dimly burning."— TFbZ/e's Ode. 



1809.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



GCi 



defeated the Austrians on tlie plain of Wagram, and imposed 
the humiliating 

Peace of Vienna. — It exacted a largo territory, a money- 
indemnity, adherence to the Continental System, and the 
blowing-up of the walls of Vienna, the favorite promenade 
of its citizens. 




THE JiATTI.K OF W At; HAM 



The treaty was cemented by marriage. Napoleon divorced 
Josephine, and married Maria Louisa, daughter of Francis. 
But this alliance of the Soldier of the Revolution "with 
the proud House of Hapsburg was distasteful to the other 
crowned heads of Europe, and unpopular in France. 

War in Spain (1809-12). — During the campaign in Aus- 
tria, over three hundred thousand French soldiers were in 



568 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1809-12. 

Spain, but Napoleon was not there. Jealousies and the dif- 
ficulties of a guerilla warfare prevented success. Wellesley 
crossed the Douro in the face of Marshal Soult, and at last 
di'ove him out of the country.^ Joining the Spaniards, 
Wellesley then defeated Joseph in the great battle of 
Talavera; but Soult, Ney, and Mortier having come up, he 
retreated into Portugal. 

The next year he fell back before the superior forces of 
Massena into the fortified hues of Torres Vedras. Massena 
remained in front of this impregnable position until starva- 
tion forced him to retu^e into Spain. His watchful antagonist 
instantly followed him, and it was only by consummate skill 
that the French captain escaped with the wreck of his army. 
The victories of Alhuera and Salamanca, and the capture of 
Ciudad Rodiigo and Badajoz, cost the French the peninsida 
south of Madrid. Joseph's throne was held up on the point 
of French bayonets. 

Russian Campaign (1812). — As the emperor Alexander 
refused to carry out the Continental System, Napoleon 
invaded that coimtry with a vast army of over haK a mil- 
lion men. But as he advanced, the Russians retired, destroy- 
ing the crops and burning the villages. No longer could he 
make war support war. By incredible exertions, however, 
he pushed forward, won the bloody battle of Borodino, and 
finally entered Moscow. 

But the inhabitants had deserted the city, and the next 
night the Russians fired it in a thousand places. The 
blackened ruins furnished no shelter from the northern 
winter then fast approaching. Famine was already making 



1 Napoleon was accustomed to mass his men in a tremendous column of attack 
that crushed down all opposition. Wellesley (now better known as the Duke of Wel- 
lington) believed that the English troops in thin line of battle could resist this fearful 
onset. In the end, as we shall see (p. 573), Wellington's tactics proved superior to 
those of Napoleon. 



1812.] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



569 



sad havoc in the invader's ranks. The czar refused peace. 
Napoleon had no alternative but to retire. 

Retreat from Moscow. — The mercury suddenly fell to zero. 
The soldiers, unused to the rigors of the climate, sank 




COSSACKS HAUASSING THE RETREATING ARMY. 



as they walked ; 
they perished if 
they stopped to 
rest. Hundi'eds lay 
down hy the fii^es 
at night, and never 
rose in the morn- 
ing. Wild Cossack 
troopers hovered about the rear, and, hidden by the gusts 
of snow, dashed down upon the blinded column, and T\4th 
their long lances pierced far into the line ; then, ere the 
French with their stiffened fingers coidd raise a musket, the 
Tartars, dropping at full length on the backs of their ponies, 
vanished in the falling sleet. Napoleon finally gave up 
the command to Murat, and set off for Paris. All idea 



570 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1812. 

of discipline was now lost, The army rapidly dissolved into 
a mass of straggling fugitives. 

Uprising of Europe (1813).—^' The flames of Moscow 
were the funeral pyre of the empii'e." The yoke of the arro- 
gant usurper was thrown off on every hand when Eui'ope 
saw a hope of deliverance. 

A Sixth Confederation (Russia, Prussia, England, and 
Sweden) against French domination was quickly formed. 
Napoleon raised a new army of conscripts which defeated 
the allies at Liitzen,'^ Bautzen, and Dresden. But where he 
was absent was failure ; while WeUington, flushed with vic- 
tory in Spain, crossed the Bidassoa, and set foot on French 
soil. And now Napoleon himself, in the terrible " Battle of 
the Nations," was routed under the walls of Leipsic. Flee- 
ing back to Paris, he collected a handful of men for the 
final struggle. 

Invasion of France (1814). — ^Nearly a million of foes 
swarmed into France on all sides. Never did Napoleon dis- 
play such genius, such profound combinations, such fertility 
of resource. Striking, now here and now there, he held 
them back for a time ; but making a false move to the rear 
of the Austrian army, the aUies ventured forward and cap- 
tured Paris. The fickle Parisians received them with de- 
hght. The people were weary of this hopeless butchery. 

Abdication of Napoleon. — Meanwhile Napoleon was 
breathlessly hastening to the defense of his capital. When 
only ten miles off, he received the fatal news. There was no 
hope of resistance, and he agreed to abdicate his throne. In 
the court of the palace at Fontainebleau he bade the veter- 
ans of the Old Guard an affecting adieu, and then set out for 
the Island of Elba, which had been assigned as his residence. 

1 A battle-field already famed for the death of Gustavus Adolphus (p. 483). 






1814.J 



FRANCE — THE RESTORATION. 



571 



1. THE KKSTORATION (18H). 

Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI., was placed upon 
the throne. France resumed very nearly the l)oundaries of 
1792. The Bourbons, however, had "learned nothing, for- 
gotten nothing." The nobles talked of reclaiming their 
feudal rights, and looked with insolent contempt upon the 
upstarts w^ho had followed the fortunes of the Corsican ad- 
venturer. No wonder that people's thoughts again turned 




NAPOLEOX'8 PAUTING WITH THE OLD GUARD AT IX)N lAIN'KI'.I.KAI 



toward Napoleon. Soon men spoke mysteriously of a cer- 
tain Corporal Violet w^ho would come mth the flowers of 
spring ; and violets bloomed significantly on ladies' hats. 

The Hundred Days (March 20-June 22, 1815).— Sud- 
denly the mystery w^as explained. Napoleon returned to 
France and hastened toward Paris. At Grenoble he met a 
body of troops drawn up to bar his advance. Wearing his 



572 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1815. 

familiar gray coat and cocked hat, Napoleon advanced alone 
in front of the line, and exclaimed, " Soldiers, if there be one 
among yon who wonld kill his emperor, here he is." The men 
dropped their arms and shouted, " Vive VMiipereur! " ^ Ney 
had promised "to bring back the Corsican to Paris in an 
iron cage." But when he saw the colors under which he 
had fought, and heard the shouts of the men he had so 
often led to battle, he forgot all else, and threw himself 
into the arms of Napoleon. 

Louis XVIII. fled in haste, and the restored government 
of the Bourbons melted into thin air. 

The Vienna Congress of European powers, caUed to read- 
just national boundaries, was in session when news came of 
Napoleon's return. The coalition (p. 570) was at once re- 
newed, and the allied troops again took the field. 

Battle of Waterloo (1815). — Napoleon quickly assembled 
an army and hastened into Belgium, hoping to defeat the 
Enghsli and Prussian armies before the others arrived. De- 
taching Grouchy with 34,000 men to hold Bliicher and the 
Prussians in check, he turned to attack the English. Near 
Brussels he met Wellington. Each general had about sev- 
enty-five thousand men. Napoleon opened the battle with a 
feigned but fierce attack on the Chateau of Hougoumont on 
the British right. Then, under cover of a tremendous artil- 
lery-fire, he massed a heavy column against the center. La 
Haye Sainte — a farmhouse in front of Wellington's Hne — 
was taken, and the cavalry streamed up the heights beyond. 
The English threw themselves into squares, upon which the 
French cuirasseurs dashed with the utmost fury. For five 
hours they charged up to the very muzzles of the British 



1 When Colonel Lab6doy6re joined him with his regiment, each soldier took 
from the hottoni of his knapsack the tricolored cockade, which he had caref ullj^ 
hidden for ten months. 



1815.] FRANCE — THE RESTORATION. 573 

guns. English tenacity struggled with French enthusiasm. 
Wellington, momentarily consulting his watch, longed for 
night or Bliiclier. Napoleon hurried messenger after mes- 
senger to recall Grouchy to his help. Just at evening, Ney 
with the Old and the Young Guard made a last effort. These 
veterans, whose presence had decided so many battles, swept 
to the top of the slope. The British Guards who were lying 
down behind the crest rose and poured in a deadly fire. 
The English converged from all sides. Suddenly cannon- 
ading was heard on the extreme French right. " It is Grou- 
chy," cried the soldiers. It was Bllicher's masses carrying 
aU before them. The terrible " saiwe qui pent " (save liimseK 
who can) arose. Whole ranks of the French melted away. 
"All is lost/' shouted Napoleon, and, putting spurs to his 
horse, he fled from the field. 

Second Abdication. — Having abdicated the throne a second 
time, Napoleon went on board the British ship Bellerophon, 
and surrendered. In order to prevent him from again 
troubling the peace, England imprisoned him upon the 
Island of St. Helena. The long wars of the French Revo- 
lution which had convulsed Europe since 1792 were at length 
ended. 

Napoleon's Fate. — The Corsiean Adventurer dragged out the re- 
mainder of his life in recalling the glories of his past, and complain- 
ing of the annoyances of the present. On the evening of May 5, 
1821, there was a fearful storm of "wind and rain, in the midst of 
which, as in the case of Cromwell, the soul of the warrior went to 
its final account. The tempest seemed to recall to his wandering 
mind the roar of battle, and his last words were, " Tcte cParmce" 
(head of the army). He was buried near his favorite resort, — a 
fountain shaded by weeping willows. In his will was a request that 
his '* body might repose on the banks of the Seine, among the people 
he had loved so well." During the reign of Louis Philippe, his re- 
mains were carried to Paris, and laid beneath a magnificent mau- 
soleum connected with the Hotel des Invalides. ''The body had been 
so skillfully embalmed that nineteen years of death had not effaced 



574 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1815. 




TOMB OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. 



the expression of the well- 
remembered features. Men 
looked once more with rev- 
erence and pity upon the 
almost unchanged counte- 
nance of him who had been 
the glory and the scourge 
of his age." 

Napoleon's Opportuni- 
ty was a rare one, but he 
ingloriously missed it. At 
several stages in his career 
— probably after Marengo, 
at all events after Auster- 
litz — he had it within his 
reach to found one of the 
most powerful and compact 
kingdoms in the world. He might have been emperor of a France 
bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Rhine, with by far the 
greatest military strength in Europe. Within this splendid territory 
he might have established a moral and intellectual power. But his 
double-dealing, his project of parceling out Europe among his kindred 
and dependants, and the folly of the Austrian marriage, the Spanish 
war, and the Russian campaign, — all illustrated his lack of wisdom, 
and wrecked his throne. 

"Napoleon's Mission," says Bryce, "was to break up in Germany 
and Italy the abominable system of petty states, to re-awaken the spirit 
of the people, to sweep away the relics of an effete feudalism, and leave 
the ground clear for the growth of newer and better forms of political 
life." He was as despotic as the kings whom he unseated. During 
nineteen years of almost constant war he inflicted upon Europe the most 
appalling miseries. Yet out of the fearful evils of his life came the 
ultimate good of humanity. Even the hatred evoked by his despotism, 
and the patriotic efforts demanded to overthrow his power, taught the 
nations to know their strength. To the Napoleonic rule, Germany and 
Italy date back the first glimpses and possibilities of united national 
life. 



Second Restoration. — Louis XVIII. now reocciipied 
his throne. France, in her turn, was forced to submit to 
a humihating peace. Tlie Congress of Vienna imposed an 
indemnity of seven hundred million francs, a loss of terri- 



1815.] 



F R A N CE — T H E REST U K A T 1 N 



OiO 




tory having a population of twenty-five hundred thousand 
persons, and the occupation of the French frontier hy a 
foreign army for five years. ^ Louis now resisted the ultra- 
royalists, and prudently sought to establish a limited mon- 
ai'chy, with a chamber of peers and 
one of deputies, based upon a re- 
stricted suffrage. His brother suc- 
ceeded to the crown. 

Charles X. (1824-30) was bent 
on restoring the Bourbon despotism. 
His usurpations led to the ^^ Eev- 
olution of the Three Days of July, 
1830." Once more the pavements 
of Paris were torn up for barricades. 
La Fayette again appeared on the 
scene, waving the tricolored flag.^ 
The palace of the Tuileries was 
sacked. Charles fled. The Cham- 
bers elected his cousin, the Duke of 
Orleans, as "King of the French," 
thus repudiating the doctrine of the 
" divine right of kings." 

The House of Orleans.— Zo^t/s FMUppe (1830-48), the 
" Citizen King," who now received the cro^\'n, at first won 
the good- will of the nation by his charming family-life, and' 
his earnest efforts to rule as a constitutional monarch. But 
there were many conflicting parties, — the Baurbonisfs, who 



11 J 




COLUMN OF JULY. 



1 Tlio allies returned to their owners the treasures of art Napoleon had pillaged. 
"The bronze horses from Corinth resumed their old place on the portico of the 
Church of 8t. Mark in Venice ; the Transfiguration was restored to the Vatican-, the 
Apollo Belviderc and the Laocoon again adorned St. Peter's ; the Venus de' Medici 
was enshrined with new beauty at Florence; and tlie Descent from the Cross was 
replaced in the Cathedral of Antwerp."— iord's 3fo(lern Europe. 

2 The blue and red were the colors of Paris; to these La Fayette added (1789) the 
Bourbon color, white, to form a cockade for the National Guards. This was the origin 
of the famous French "tricolor." 



576 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



[1830. 



sustained the grandson of Charles X. (Comte de Chambord, 
or " Henry V.") 5 the Bonapartists, who remembered Napo- 
leon's successes, and not the misery he had caused 5 the Or- 
leanists, who supported the constitutional monarchy ; the 
Repithlicans, who wished for a republic ; and the Bed or 
Badical BejnibUcans, who had adopted socialistic doctrines. 
The favorite motto was, "Liberty, Equality, and Frater- 




LANCEUS ULEAKING THE BOULEVAKDS OF TAUIS. 



nity." Pohtical clubs fomented disorder. Amid these 
complications, the king's popularity waned. His pohcy of 
"peace at any price," and his selfish ambition in seeking 
donations and royal alliances for his family, aroused gen- 
eral contempt. Finally a popular demand for an extension 
of the franchise found expression in certain " Reform Ban- 
quets." An attempt to suppress one of these meetings at 
Paris precipitated 



1848.] FRANCE — THE SECOND REPUBLIC. 577 





PROCLAMATION OF THE KEPUBLIC. 



The Revolution of 1848.— Bairicades sprung- up as 
by magic. The red flag was unfurled. The National Guards 
fraternized with the rabble. Louis Philippe lost heart, and, 
assuming the name of Smith, fled to England. A republic 



578 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1848. 

was again proclaimed. France, as usual, followed the lead 
of Paris.^ 

2. THE SECOND REPUBLIC (1848-52). 

The Paris Mob, though it had established a republic, 
really wanted equality of money rather than of rights. The 
Socialists taught that government should provide work and 
wages for every one. To meet the demand, national work- 
shops were estabhshed 5 but, when these proved an evil and 
were closed, the Reds organized an outbreak. For three 
days a fearful fight raged in the streets of Paris. Order 
was at last restored at a cost of five thousand lives. 

Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I., was then chosen 
president of the new republic. Before his four-years' term 
of office had expired, he plotted, by the help of the army, a 
coup cVetat (1851). His very audacity won the day. The 
Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; his opponents were 
imprisoned; and he was elected president for ten years. 

As, fifty years before, the Consulate gave place to the 
Empire, so now the Second Repubhc was soon merged in 
the Second Empire. In 1852 the president assumed the 
title of emperor. Again the popular vote approved the over- 
throw of the republic, and Napoleon's violation of the consti- 
tution he had sworn to support. 

3. THE SECOND EMPIRE (1852-70). 

Napoleon III. modeled his domestic policy after that 
of Napoleon I. He relied on the army for support, and cen- 
tralized all authority. He improved Paris by widening its 
streets and removing old buildings. He reorganized the 
army and navy; extended railroads; encouraged agricul- 

1 At tins time the provinces complained that they "had to receive their revolu- 
tions by mail from Paris." In our day, Paris is no longer France; and the rural 
population has become a power in politics. 



1852.] 



PRANCE — THE SECOND EMPIRE. 



579 




STUEKT PLACAUDS A^•^•OU^'CI^•G 'IHE COUP D'ETAl. 



ture; and dazzled men's eyes by 
the glitter of a brilliant coni't. 
In 1867, wlien a World's Fail- was 
held in Paris, visitors were im- 
pressed by the evidences of a 
wonderful material prosperity. 

At his ascension. Napoleon announced his policy in the 
words, "The empire is peace.'^ Yet four wars character- 
ized his reign, — the Crimean (p. 586), the Italian (p. 594), 
the Mexican (U. S. Hist., p. 248), and the German. The 
first brought him great glory ; the last revealed the inherent 
weakness of the Napoleonic administration, and caused the 
emperor's downfall. 

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). — The time- 
honored policy of France was to perpetuate German di- 
visions in order to weaken that nation. Of late there had 



B G H-34 



580 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1870. 

been an especial jealousy between France and Prussia. The 
former was distrustful of Prussia's growing power, and the 
latter was eager to avenge Jena and recover the Rhine. A 
proposal of the Spaniards to bestow their crown upon a kins- 
man of the King of Prussia was resented by France, and out 
of it finally grew an excuse to declare war. 

Invasion of France. — The French troops left Paris to the 
cry of "On to Berlin," but they never crossed the Rhine. 
The soldiers had no respect for their commanders, and lacked 
discipline and confidence. The generals were ignorant of 
the country and the position of the enemy. The Prussian 
trooper knew more of the French roads than many an im- 
perial officer. The G-erman armies, by their superior dis- 
cipline and overwhelming numbers, crushed all opposition. 
Victories followed fast, at Weissenhurg, Worth, CourceUes, 
Thionville, and Gravelotfe. Napoleon himself surrendered at 
Sedan with eighty tliousand men, and Marshal Bazaine at 
Metz with one hundred and eighty thousand. 

When the news of Sedan reached Paris, the people turned 
their wrath upon Napoleon and his family. The empress 
Eugenie fled to England, ^ and the empire was at an end. 
The conquerors now closed in upon Paris, and, after a 
siege of over four months, the city surrendered. 

4. THE THIRD REPUBLIC (1871 TO THE PRESENT TIME). 

The Republic. — The Germans having granted a three- 
weeks' truce that the French might vote for a new govern- 
ment, an Assembly was chosen by the people. Thiers was 
elected president of the new republic. But peace was pur- 
chased only by the cession of Alsace and part of Lorraine, 
and a penalty of five billion francs. Thus Strasburg, taken 
by Louis XIV., and Metz, by Henry II., were lost, and 

1 Tlie emperor died there in exile (1873) ; his son, the prince imperial, fell as a 
volunteer in the Zulu War (1879). 



1871.] 



FRANCE — THE THIRD REPUHLIC. 



581 



France itself, which in 1814 had Ix^en conquered only by 
aU Europe, lay at tlie mercy of one nation, Jena and the 
cruel indignities which the first Napoleon had infiicted on 
Germany were sadly expiated. 

The Commune (1871). — While a German army was yet 
at hand, the indemnity unpaid, and the country devastated 
by war, the Parisian rab- 
ble inaugurated a second 
I'eign of terror. Barricades 
were throAvn up, the red 
flag — symbol of anarchy — 
was unfurled, and a Com- 
mune was established at 
the Hotel de VHle. The 
Assembly met at Versailles 
and collected troops. Then 
ensued a second siege of 
Paris more disastrous than 
the first. The Communists, 
defeated at aU points, laid 
trains of petrolemn, and 
destroyed the Tuileries, 
the Hotel de Ville, and many of the finest public buildings. 
This fearful ruin was as useless as it was vindictive. 

The Assembly, having triumphed, assumed the diffi- 
cidt task of government. The administration of Tliiers 
was singularly successfid, and the payment of the war pen- 
alty within two years excited the wonder of the world. The 
French ascril)ed Germany's success to her pul:)lic schools, 
and so primary education became one of the foundations 
of the young republic. The army was also remodeled on 
the German plan, and it is said that twenty-four hundred 
thousand men could now be put in the field. 




A FEMALR COMMUNIST. 



582 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[187L 




BAKKICADING THE STIIEETS OF I'AIIIS. 



Thiers resigned in 1873. Sncceeding- liim have been 
Marshal McMahon, Grevy (1879), and Carnot (1887). 



1820.] ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 583 

II. ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER {Continued). 

The English Monarchs of the present century are as 
follows: George IV. (1820-30), owing to the insanity of his 
father, ruled for nine years as regent. Though styled the 
'' Fu'st Gentleman of Europe " for his coui'tly manners and 
exquisite dress, he was selfish as Charles I., and profligate as 
Charles II. William IV. (1830-37), brother of George IV., 
having seen service in the navy, was known as the '^ Sailor 
King." His warm heart, open hand, and common sense 

won the love of England. Victoria (1837 ), niece of 

WiUiam IV., ascended the throne at the age of eighteen. ^ 
Her reign has proved a blessing to the world. AU England 
has felt the benediction of her pure life and her Christian 
example, as queen, \^dfe, and mother. 

State of the Country. — The long wars of the French 
Revolution left England burdened with a debt of four billion 
doUars. The condition of the common people was miserable. 
Wages were low, and the Corn Laws, imposing a heavy duty 
on foreign grain, made the price of food very high. Suffj-age 
was limited ; there was no system of public education ; and 
the laws were unequal. Thousands of disbanded soldiers 
and sailors vainly sought for work. Bands of discharged 
laborers roamed through the country, breaking the lace 
and stocking frames which had taken from them their em- 
ployment. Incendiary fii-es Hghted the evening sky. Every- 
where men's minds were astir with a sense of injustice and 
a need of political privileges. But it is noticeable, that, 
while in France improvement came only by revolution, in 
England A\Tongs were righted by peaceable reform. 

Reforms.— The Test Act (p. 508) was repealed in 1828, 
and the next year Catholics were gi*anted, with a few excep- 

i Hauover was then severed from the Britisli Empire by the Salic law (p. 532). 



584 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1832. 

tioiis, equal rights with their Protestant fellow-citizens. The 
First Reform Bill (1832), proposed by Lord John Russell, 
extended the franchise, abolished many rotten boroughs,^ 
and empowered the large towns to send members to Parlia- 
ment. The Negro Emancipation Bill (1833), passed chiefly 
through the philanthropic efforts of William Wilberforce, 
suppressed slavery throughout the British Empire. 

The Chartists, principaUy workingmen, were so called 
from a document termed the People's Charter, in which they 
demanded six changes in the constitution : viz., (1) universal 
suffrage ; (2) vote by ballot ; (3) annual Parhaments ; (4) pay- 
ment of members of Parliament ; (5) abolition of property 
qualification for a seat in the House ; and (6) equal electoral 
districts. In 1848 — that year of revolution over the Con- 

1 Cities, like Mancliester and Leeds, tlien sent no members to Parliament, while 
some little villages had two members apiece. The great landowners dictated to their 
tenants the proper candidate. There were many "pocket or rotten boroughs" liav- 
iiig seats in Parliament, yet witliout honse or inhabitant. One of these was a ruined 
wall in a gentleman's park ; another was under the sea. " So utterly were the people 
excluded liom any part in politics, that for twenty years there had not been in Edin- 
burgli auy public meeting of a political character." 

" During the eighteenth century, the Irish Parliament, composed of Protestants of 
an exceedingly bitter type, liad lieaped upon the unhappy Catholics of Ireland ait 
accumulation of the most wicked laws which liave ever been expressed in the English 
tongue. A Catholic could not sit in Parliament, could not hold any office under the 
crown, could not vote at an election, could not be a solicitor, or a physician, or a 
sheriff, or a gamekeeper. If his son became a Protestant, he was withdrawn from 
paternal custody and intrusted to Protestant relatives, with a suitable provision by 
the father for his maintenance. A Catholic was not permitted to own a horse of 
greater value than five pounds. If he used a more reputable animal, he was bound to 
sell it for that sum to any Protestant who was disposed to buy. If a younger brother 
turned Protestant, he supplanted the elder in his birthright. A Catholic could not 
inlierit from an intestate relative, however near. A Protestant solicitor who married 
a Catholic was disqualified from following his profession. Marriages of Protestants 
and Catholics, if performed by a priest, were annulled, and the priest was liable to 
be lianged. In the early part of the century, a Catholic who was so daring as to enter 
the gallery of the House of Commons was liable to arrest."— Mackenzie's Nineteenth 
Century. Many of these pitiable laws were abolished in the century that gave them 
birth ; otliers would have been annulled after the Union in ISOl, had it not been for 
the violent opposition of George IV., supported by Mr. Peel and the Duke of Welling- 
ton. The Irish patriot. Daniel O'Connell, roused the countrj', and liastened an era of 
reform. In 1782, under tlie lead of the eloquent Henry Grattan, Ireland obtained 
an independent Parliament,— an advantage lost again in 1801. The same question is 
involved in the parliamentary elections of 1892, the Conservatives calling themselves 
Unionists. 



1848.J ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 585 

tinent — the Chartists mustered on Kennington Common, 
intending to march through London to the House of Com- 
mons, to present a monster petition (said to contain five 
million signatui'es), and compel an assent to their demands. 
The government appealed to the citizens, and 200,000 vol- 
unteered^ as special constables. This remarkable display 
of public opinion quelled the movement. The Chartists 
disbanded, but the agitation bore fruit, and most of the 
reforms have since been granted. It was a contest for 
political power, but with it came one for cheap bread. 

An Anti-Corn-Law League was formed in Manches- 
ter (1839), having branches throughout the kingdom. At 
the head of this agitation were Richard Cobden and John 
Bright. They held the doctrine of free trade, — that every 
man should be free to buy in the cheapest market and to 
sell in the dearest, without restriction. On the other hand, 
the Protectionists claimed that high duties, by keeping up 
prices, defended home industries against foreign competition. 
In the midst of the discussion, the potato crop of Ireland 
failed, and the famine in that country (1846) forced Robert 
Peel, the leader of the Conservatives in Parliament, to intro- 
duce a bill abolishing duties upon grain, cattle, etc. This 
repeal came into operation in 1849. 

The First Locomotive. — The year 1830 is memorable 
for the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 
upon which passenger-cars were di-awn by a locomotive- 
engine, — the invention of George Stephenson. 

Cheap Postage. — A young man named Rowland Hill 
brought forward the idea of penny postage. The scheme 
was laughed at, but it became a law in 1840.^ 

1 6iie of these volunteers was Louis Napoleon, then an exile in Eng-land, but chosen 
the next year as president of tlio French llcpublic (p. 578). 

2 Walter Scott tells us that in his day the mail from Edinburgh to London often 
contained only a single letter, the postage being thirty-two cents. 



586 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1837. 

The First World's Fair (1851) was held at London in 
the Crystal Palace, then a novel structure of iron and glass, 
covering about nineteen acres of ground. Prince Albert, 
the royal consort, fostered this exhibition, which gave a 
new impetus to English art industries. 

Crimean War (1854). — The emperor Nicholas of Russia, 
anxious to seize the spoil of the " sick man," as Turkey was 
called, took possession of some provinces on the Danube, 
under the pretext of supporting the claims of the Grreek 
Christians to certain holy places in Jerusalem. England 
and France aided the sultan. An allied army, seventy 
thousand strong, was landed in the Crimea. The victory of 
the Alma enabled the troops to advance upon Sebasto'pol, a 
fortified city which commanded the Black Sea, and in whose 
harbor lay the fleet which menaced Constantinople and the 
Bosporus. The siege lasted nearly a year. Innumerable 
combats, two desperate battles {BalaJdava ^ and Inherman), 
incessant guard by day and night, hard labor in the trenches, 
and an unhealthy climate, tried the valor of the French and 
the constancy of the English.^ Finally the French stormed 
the Malakoff redoubt, and the Russians evacuated the city. 
When the conquerors entered, they found such ruin, flame, 
and devastation as greeted Napoleon in the streets of Moscow. 

By the Treaty of Paris (1856), the czar agreed to abandon 
his protectorate over the Danubian provinces ; the naviga- 
tion of the Danube was made free ; and Russia was allowed 
only police vessels of war on the Black Sea.^ 

Indian Mutiny (1857). — The sepoys, or native soldiers 
in the English service in India, revolted because their car- 



1 This battle is famous for tlie charge of the Six Hundred so graphically described 
in Tennyson's popular poem, " Tlie Charge of the Light Brigade." 

2 In this war Florence Nightingale won lier renown as an army nurse. 

3 In 1870 Russia abrogated this restriction. 



1856.J ENGLAND — THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 587 

tridges were said to be greased with tallow or lard.^ The 
white residents at Dellii, Cawnpore, and other points, were 
massacred with horrible barbarity. The Europeans at Lnck- 
now held out against Nana Sahib until reenforced by Gen- 
eral Havelock, who defended the city while Colin (jampbell 
(Lord Clyde) and his Highlanders came to the rescue. The 
rebellion was finally crushed, and the East India Company 
(1859) transferred the government of India to the queen, 
who in 1876 was made Empress of India. 

Cotton Famine. — Our civil war cut off the supply of 
cotton, so that everywhere factory operatives were either 
thro\\^l out of employment or worked only half-time. The 
workingmen, who were generally Liberals, sympathized with 
the war for the Union, and patiently bore hunger and want, 
in devotion to their principles. 

Recent Events.— In 1878, England, under Disraeh's 
lead, checked Russia's plan to seize Constantinople, and re- 
ceived from Turkey the Island of Cyprus. In 1882 an ex- 
pedition was made to suppress an Egyptian insurrection and 
protect English interests in the Suez. In 1885 a Soudanese 
rebellion, led by Mah'di (dee), a false prophet, attacked the 
English garrison at Khartoum, and General Gordon was 
killed. Dissatisfaction with the course of the ministry in 
this matter led to the retirement of Mr. Gladstone's cabinet, 
and the accession of Lord Salisbury, the present (1892) prime 
minister. In 1891 Mr. Parnell was deposed from the leader- 
ship of the Irish Home Rule party, and soon afterward died. 

Recent Reforms.— In 1867 a Reform BiU, carried by 
the Conservatives, under the leadership of Lord Derby and 
Mr. Disraeli, granted a franchise which amounts very nearly 
to household suffrage. In 1869, under Mr. Gladstone's ad- 

1 Tliey regarded this as an insult to their religion, since a Hindoo may not touch 
cow's fat, or a Mohammedan lard. 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1870. 

ministration, a bill was carried for the disestablisliment and 
disendowment of the Established Church in Ireland, where 
the Catholics are the majority of the population. In 1870 
education was made compulsory, school boards were estab- 
lished in every district, and the support of schools was pro- 
vided for by taxation. In 1870, and again in 1881, biUs were 
adopted regulating tenant-rights in Ireland. In 1871 all 
religious tests for admission to office or degrees in the uni- 
versities were abolished. In 1872 voting by ballot was 
introduced. In 1889 elementary education was made free 
in Scotland. In 1890 physical culture, manual training, 
and kindergarten methods, were introduced in schools. 

III. GERMANY. 

Germanic Confederation. — The Holy Eoman Empire 
came to an end in 1806, 1006 years after Pope Leo ci'owned 
Charlemagne at Rome. After Napoleon's defeat at Water- 
loo, it was hoped that the ancient empire would be restored ; 
the patriotic struggle for liberty had welded the petty nation- 
alities, and the people did not wish their restoration. But, 
instead, the Congress of Vienna (p. 572) formed a German 
Confederation of thirty-nine states. A permanent diet was 
to sit at Frankfort-on-Main, Austria having the presidency. 

Prussia, through the liberality of the Congress of Vienna, 
received back all the territory she had lost by the confis- 
cations of Napoleon, and, in addition, Swedish Pomerania,, 
the Rhinelands, and a part of Saxony. She was once more 
a great power, with an area of one hundi-ed thousand square 
miles and a population of ten million people. 

The Holy Alliance (1815). — The sovereigns of Russia, 
Austria, and Prussia, after their triumph in 1815, formed a 
compact, agreeing '^ to regulate their conduct by the precepts 
of the Grospel," and also, as is generally believed from their 



1828.] 



GERMANY. 



589 



subsequent conduct, to aid one another in suppressing the 
])riii('i})les of lilxM'ty ai'oused by th(* Frencli Uevohition. 

The Demand for Freedom and Unity.— The princes 
in the Confederation promised to grant constitutions, but 
most of them forgot the agreement (p. 565, note). They 
generally opposed union, and sought to crush its rising spirit 
in the universities. The questions of liberty and union 
were so blended, however, that in many minds the only 
thought was which should first be secured. Quite a step was 




Tllli UOYAL PALACE AT llEULIN. 



taken by Prussia's gradually becoming, after 1828, the center 
of the ZoUverein, a commercial union between the German 
states which agreed to levy customs at a common frontier. 

The Revolution of 1 848 in France roused the Germans 
anew to demand ''freedom of speech, liberty of the press, 
and a constitutional government." The Teutonic love of 
freedom blazed forth in all the great cities. Various im- 



590 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1848. 



portant reforms had been instituted in Prussia, but the peo- 
ple were not satisfied. A conflict broke out in the streets 
of Berlin, and several persons were killed; whereupon, 
Frederick William IV. (table, p. 526) put himseK forward 
as the leader of the movement for German unity ; the army 
stood firm for the Crown ; finally a new constitution with a 
limited suffrage was granted, and order was reestabhshed. 

In Austria, on the con- 
trary, repression and arbi- 
trary measures had been 
adopted, through the in- 
fluence of Prince Metter- 
nich, — the avowed friend 
of despotism. At Vienna, 
an uprising, headed by 
the students, drove Met- 
ternich into exile, and 
such was the confusion 
that the emperor Ferdi- 
nand sought safety in 
flight.^ The excesses of 
the revolutionists, how- 
ever, destroyed all hope of 
success. Ferdinand now 
abdicated in favor of his 
nephew, Francis Joseph. 
In Hungary the insurrection was more serious. Kossuth 
was the soul of the revolution. Austria was finally obliged 
to call in the Russians. An Austro-Russian avmy of four 
hundred thousand, under the infamous Haynau (known in 
history as the " Hangman "), entered Hungary and wreaked 




PORTRAIT OF COUNT BISMARCK. 



1 " I want obedient subjects," said the emperor to the students at Laybach, " and 
not men of learning." 



1866.] 



GERMANY. 



591 



its vengeance on the hapless patriots. The surrender of the 

leader Clorgey, with his entire army, ended the fruitless 

struggle. Kossuth gave 

liimseK up to the Turks ; 

he lay in prison until 

1851, when Ee was set 

free by the intervention 

of the United States and 

England. 

War with Den- 
mark (18G4). — Bis- 
marck, the Prussian 
minister, induced Austria 
to join Prussia in wrest- 
ing from Denmark the 
Duchies of Sclileswig and 
Holstein. The division 
of the easily acquii-ed 
plunder caused renewed 
bitterness between the 
two rival countries. 

Seven- Weeks' War 
Prussia and Austria for 




rOUTKAlT OF WILLIAM, KINO OF I'KUSSIA. 



(1866). — The jealousy between 
the leadership in Germany w^as 
thus increased, and Bismarck openly declared that it could 
be settled only by "blood and iron." Excuses were easily 
found, and in 1866 Prussia and Italy declared war against 
Austria. The Austrians won in Italy, but the Prussians — 
armed with the new needle-gun, and led by the great Von 
Moltke — routed them at Sadowa,^ and conquered the Peace 
of Fragile. Austria was forever shut out of Germany, 
besides paying a large sum for war expenses. 

1 Wlien the kiug and the crown prince met on the fiehl after the battle, tlie army 
struck ujt the same ohl choral hj'mn, " Now let all hearts thank God," that the troops 
of Frederick the Great sang after the victory of Leuthen (p. 530). 



592 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [187L 

The North German Confederation. — The northern 
states were now joined, with a common constitution and 
assembly, under the presidency of Prussia, whose territory 
was enlarged by annexations. The South German states — 
Baden, Bavaria, and Wlirtemberg — remained independent. 

Union of Germany. — When the French war broke 
out, the South German states joined Prussia, and the crown 
prince commanded a united army of over a million men. 
The enthusiasm of the struggle developed the national senti- 
ment. With victory came a fresh desire for union. Finally, 
during the siege of Paris, in the Palace of Versailles, King 
WiUiam was proclaimed Emperor of Germany (1871). Oer- 
many at last meant something more than "a mere geo- 
graphical expression." William I. was succeeded in 1888 
by his son Frederick, who survived him only three months. 
The crown then fell to WiUiam II., under whom Caprivi 
displaced Bismarck. 

Austria-Hungary. — After the Seven- Weeks' War, Aus- 
tria granted the long-needed reforms. Hungary received a 
constitution, and in 1867, Francis Joseph, Emperor of Aus- 
tria, was crowned King of Hungary, under its constitution. 
Since then Hungary and Austria have been two distinct 
states, though with certain common interests, and are united 
politically under the same dynasty. 

IV. ITALY. 

Austrian Domination. — The Congress of Vienna left 
Italy enslaved and divided. The dream of a restored nation- 
aUty, nearly realized under Napoleon, was rudely dispelled ; 
the old separations were renewed ; the old tyrants were re- 
seated. Once more Austrian despotism hung like a mill- 
stone about the neck of the nation. 

The history of Italy from 1815 to 1848 is one of chronic 



1848.] 



ITALY. 



593 



insurrection. The Carbonari (charcoal-burners), a secret 
society formed to resist Bourbon oppression, numljered in 
Italy over half a million members, with l)ranches in other 
countries. An organization known as Young Italy was 
formed by Mazzini, an Italian refugee, who first advanced 
the idea of a free united Italy. Besides open revolts, there 
were secret plots, while assassinations were only too fre- 
quently perpetrated in the name of liberty. 

But Austria was strong enough, not only to hold her ow^n 
possessions of Lombardy and Venice, but also to keep her 
creatures upon their thrones in the small states, and to 
crush the republican movement throughout the peninsula. 
There was one hopeful sign. In the kingdom of Sardinia, 
where Charles Albert began to reign in 1831, a spirit of na- 
tionality prevailed. 

Revolution of 1848. — The example of the French 
and the German patriots roused the Italians to a new 
struggle. Milan and 
Venice rose in arms. 
Charles Albert raised the 
banner against Austria. 
For a time nearly all 
northern Italy was re- 
lieved from the Haps- 
burg yoke. But the pa- 
triot triumph was short. 
The Austrians gained so 
decisive a victory at Ao- 
vara (1849) that the 
broken-hearted Sardinian 
king resigned his crown 
to his son Victor Em- 
manuel II. 




POKTBAIT OF VICIOU tMMAHUEL. 



594 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



[1859. 



Pope Pius IX. was the friend of tlie Liberals, and had 
granted many rights to the people, but their demands in- 
creased during this republican year, and he finally fled 
from Rome. That city was then declared a republic, and 
Mazzini was elected chief of the Triumsdrs, or magistrates. 
But, strangely enough, the French Repubhc espoused the 
cause^of the Austrians, and, though Garibaldi, the ^^Hero 
of the red shirt," bravely defended Rome, it was carried by 
storm. The Pope came back with absolute power, and a 
French garrison was placed in the city. 

By the close of 1849 the insurrection had been crushed 
out everywhere, and tyranny seemed triumphant. But in 
Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel maintained a constitutional 

government, and more 
and more men began to 
look to him as the cham- 
pion of Italian free- 
dom. He kept his word 
to his people, who caUed 
him the " Honest King." 
In 1853, Count Cavour, 
an ardent and wise 
friend of Itahan unity^ 
becaime his prime min- 
ister. He induced Em 
manuel to win the good 
wiU of France and Eng- 
land by helping them in 
the Crimean war. Ac- 
cordingly the allied 
powers remonstrated with Ferdinand for his cruel rule in 
Italy, and finally France and Sardinia joined in a 
War against Austria (1859). — Napoleon himself took 




PORTRAIT OF GARIBALDI. 



I860.] 



ITALY. 



595 



the field. The combined French and Sardmian forces won 
the hrilliant victories of Mnijoda and SoJferino. Napoleon 
had promised '' to make Italy free from tlu; Ticino to the 
Adriatic/' and he seemed about to keep his word. But 
Prussia threatened to take the part of Austria, and Napoleon, 
without consulting Emmanuel, concluded the Peace of Villa- 
franca. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia. Soon after, Nice 
and Savoy were annexed to France. Tuscany, Modena, 
Parma, and Romagna, by a popular vote, became subject 




THE FUENCH ARMY OCCUPYING THE CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO. 

to Sardinia. Thus by the help of France nine million 
people were added to this kingdom, — the hope of Italy. 

Freedom of Sicily and Naples. — Events now moved 
on rapidly. The people of Naples and Sicily groaned under 
the cruel Bom-bon rule. Garibaldi, issuing from his rocky 
retreat of Caprera, landed at Marsala in Sicily, proclaiming 
himself dictator for Emmanuel. Palermo and Messina 
quickly fell into his hands, and, crossing to the mainland, 

BG H— 36 



596 THE NINETEENTH CENTURYo 

he entered Naples in triumph. The people of Naples and 
Sicily now joined themselves to Sardinia. 

United Italy. — Emmanuel now controlled all Italy, ex- 
cept the Austrian province of Venetia and the city of Rome, 
which the French held for the Pope. The first Italian 
Parhament (Turin, 18G1) proclaimed Victor Emmanuel King 
of Italy. Count Cavour died shortly after, but his poUcy 
of bringing his country into European politics quickly bore 
fruit. As the result of Italy's joining the Seven- Weeks' War 
between Austria and Prussia (1866), she got back Venice and 
Verona. Finally, during the struggle between France and 
Germany (1870), Napoleon called home the French troops, 
and the next year Victor Emmanuel removed his court from 
Florence to Rome. Upon the death of Victor Emmanuel, 
1878, his son, Umberto I., succeeded to the crown. The 
Pope now ceased to be a temporal prince (p. 332), though 
he retained his spiritual power; and Leo XIII., the pres- 
ent (1899) supreme pontiff^ resides in the Vatican. 

V. TURKEY. 

The Aggression of the Turks continued after the fall 
of Constantinople. Mohammed II. overthrew Greeee, and 
threatened Italy. Bosnia and Albania were annexed. The 
Crimea was wrested from the Genoese. Hungary was re- 
peatedly invaded. Twice Vienna itself was besieged. All 
southeastern Europe was finally conquered, save where the 
Montenegrins held their mountain fastnesses. Selim I., 
Mohammed II.'s grandson, extended his dominion over 
Mesopotamia, Assyria, Syria, and Egypt. The reign of 
Solyman, his son, marked the acme of the Turkish power 
(p. 436). 

The battle of Lepanto (1571), in which the combined fleets 
of Spain, Venice, Genoa, and the Pope, under Don John of 



TURKEY. 597 

Austria, destroyed tlie Turkish fleet, was the turning-point 
in the Ottoman progress. From that time, Poland, Hun- 
gary, and Austria steadily drove back the hated infidel. 
Finally the rise of Russia in the 18tli centuiy gave the Turk 
a new enemy. Peter the Great dreamed of making the Blaek 
Sea a Russian lake ; and the avowed determination of Russia 
has ever since been the conquest of the effete nation 
that shuts off the mighty northern empire from the Medi- 
terranean. The integrity of Turkey, however, is a cardi- 
nal principle in European diplomacy. England especially, 
through jealousy of Russia's power in India, has supported 
the sultan. But for English interference, the remaining 
four millions of people upon whom there fell, at the begin- 
ning of modern history, the calamity of Turkish conquest, 
would ere this have achieved their freedom, and the bar- 
barous Moslem intruders into Europe would have been 
wholly expelledo 

In 1877-78 was fought the Russo-Turkish War, in which 
the Russians vanquished the Turks. The fruits of their 
victory, however, were partly lost through the interference 
of England. The Berlin Treaty^ by which the Great Pow- 
ers finally settled the matter, made Servia, Roumania, and 
Montenegro independent, secured additions to the territory 
of Austria-Hungary and Greece (p. 598), and granted self- 
government to Bulgaria and Crete. In Crete, however, 
the sultan's promises were not carried out, and the people 
rebelled. Greece then tried to annex the island (1897), but 
this was prevented by the Great Powers. Soon, however, 
war broke out between Greece and Turkey, and Greece was 
defeated, being saved from utter ruin only by the restrain- 
ing influence of the Powers. Finally, the Cretan difficulty 
was ended when the son of the King of Greece was made 
its governor. 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
VI. GREECE. 

Greece endured the hateful Turkish bondage for nearly 
four hundred years. Every rising for freedom was crushed 
with terrible cruelty. In the year 1821, however, the spirit 
of liberty flamed into inextinguishable revolt. Many Eng- 
lishmen — among them Lord Byron, the poet — took sides 
with this heroic people. The beautiful island of Scio was 
laid waste by the Ottomans (1822) ; and the next year the 
Suliote patriot, Marco Bozzaris, during a night attack upon 
the enemy's camp, fell in the moment of victory. In this 
desperate contest of years, one half of the population is 
said to have perished, and large tracts of land were reduced 
to a desert. The Turks called the Egyptians to their help, 
and Greece seemed likely to be overwhelmed. 

Finally, England, Russia, and France formed a league to 
aid the Hellenes in this unequal struggle. Their combined 
fleets destroyed the Turkish and Egyptian fleets in the Bay 
of Navarino,—the old Pylos (1827). The French troops 
drove the Egyptians out of the Peloponnesus, and in 1830 
Greece became an independent kingdom under the protec- 
tion of the Triple League. So at last the land of Plato 
and Pericles was free again. Georgias I., son of the King 
of Denmark, was elected King of Greece in 1863.i 

VII. THE NETHERLANDS. 

The Netherlands, after Louis abdicated the throne, was 
annexed by Napoleon to France. In 1813 the people threw 
off the French yoke, and recalled the house of Orange to the 



J It is interesting to note the interrelation.s of the European royal families. Thus 
in 1898 the Queen of Denmark was tlie mother of the Kinu' of Greece and the PriuceH.s 
of Wales, and grandmother of the Czar of Russia; wliile Queen Victoria was the 
giandnu)tlier of the German PZmperor and of the Empress of Russia. At one time, 
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Vict<)ria,'was almost unanimously called by the 
Greeks to be their kiug.butthecouditiousof the Triple League forbade his acceptance. 



RUSSIA. 509 

government. The Oo]i«^'ess of Vienna joined the northern 
and the sontlu'rn provinces, Ilolhind and Bclij^inm, the united 
kiii^-doni bein^- calk'd Tlie XcthcHnnds, — a name now ap- 
pUed to Holland oidy. 

The Belgians, however, disliked tlie Hollanders ; and a 
spark from the Freneh Revolution of 1830, falling among 
this restive people, kindled the flame of insurrection. The 
independence of Belgium was declared, and Leopold of Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha was called to the throne. His son, Leopold 
IL, succeeded him in 18G5. 

Holland has had an uneventful history since its separation 
from Belgium. The present Queen of the Netherlands, 
Wilhelmina, succeeded her father, William IH. of Orange, 
in 1890 ; her mother, Emma, acted as queen-regent until 
Wilhelmina became of age (1898). 

VI I I. RUSSIA. 

Alexander II. (1855-81) introduced several reforms 
into this despotic empire. He improved the system of edu- 
cation, opened new commercial routes, and reorganized the 
army and navy. Greatest of all, he emancipated the serfs 
(1863), numbering between forty and fifty millions, one half 
of whom belonged to the Crown. But his emancipation 
policy enraged the aristocracy, while his refusal to grant a 
constitution displeased the other classes. The Nihilists (a 
powerful secret society sworn to the annihilation of Russia's 
present government) repeatedly sought to kill him. Thus, 
in spite of his reforms, Alexander, whose despotic father 
had walked the streets fearlessly, could not Lppear in public 
without peril of assassination. At last (1881) it came. 

The reign of his son, Alexander III., was equally disturbed. 
By new and revived edicts against the Jews (1890), about 
two millions of people were suddenly deprived of all means 



600 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

of support, banished the empire, or subjected to merciless 
severities. University disturbances continually arose on 
account of the laws which placed the schools under con- 
stant police surveillance, and large numbers of suspected 
students and professors swelled the army of political exiles 
to Siberia. In 1891-92 a severe famine intensified the woes 
of the common people. 

In the reign of Nicholas II. (1894- ) work on the great 
trans-Siberian railroad was pushed rapidly forward. 

IX. JAPAN. 

The Ruling Dynasty of Japan boasts of an unbroken 
succession during twenty-five centuries. Its founder, their 
chronicles assert, was Jimmu, from whom the present mika- 
do, or emperor, is the one hundred and twenty-third in direct 
descent. The assumed date of Jimmu's ascension (660 B. c.) 
is styled the year 1 of the Japanese era.^ In the 6th cen- 
tury A. D., Buddhism was introduced (through Corea) from 
China ; with it came the Asiatic civilization. A stream of 
skilled artisans, scholars, teachers, and missionaries, poured 
into the country, and thenceforth the Japanese character 
was molded by the same forces that gave to the Celestial 
Empire its peculiar features. 

The Shogun, or Tycoon, the commander-in-chief of the 
army, acquired in 1192 the entire control of political affairs, 
the mikado retaining only the religious supremacy and the 
symbols of royalty. Under this dual form of government, 
there grew up a feudal system, the military leaders, or 
daimios, securing land in fief, erecting castles, and support- 
ing a host of retainers. This relic of the middle ages lasted 
until 1868, when a revolution restored the mikado to su- 

1 This chronology would make Jimmu a contemporary of the Assyrian monarch 
Aashur-bani-pal (p. 49). 



JAPAN. 601 

preme power, destroyed the Shogun's rule, and abolished the 
feudal titles and teniu-es. At the command of the mikado, 
two hundred and fifty vassal nobles, resigning then* princely 
incomes, lands, and retinues, retired to private life. 

The Portuguese, during the era of maritime adven- 
ture in the 16th century, came to Japan. The missionary 
quickly followed the sailor. Francis Xavier, the apostle to 
the Indies, introduced Christianity (1549), and in tune six 
hundred thousand converts were made. Tliis second influx 
of foreign civilization was stopped by the expulsion of the 
Portuguese and a violent persecution of the Christian Jap- 
anese. The history of the Church in Europe presents no 
more devoted faith or heroic constancy than were shown 
by the martjrrs of this bloody period. The Dutch alone 
were allowed a residence upon an island in the harbor of 
Nagasaki, and to exchange a single ship-load of merchan- 
dise per year. 

Commodore Perry, with a squadi-on of United States 
vessels, entered the harbor of Yokohama (1854). He made a 
treaty with Japan, and secured the opening of certain ports to 
our trade. Since then the tliird foreign wave has swept over 
the Sun-land. Successive commercial treaties have been 
made. The former exclusiveness has been broken down, old 
ideas have been uprooted, and the nation has been thi-ust into 
the path of modern civilization. In 1875 the mikado es- 
tablished a senate ; in 1879 he inaugurated pro\dncial and 
departmental assembhes ; and in 1889 Japan became a con- 
stitutional monarchy, with a Cabinet, a Privy Council, a 
House of Peers, and a House of Representatives. Under the 
new order, absolute religious freedom is secured, elementary 
education made compulsory, kindergarten methods are pro- 
vided, and a flourishing government university is supported. 
The principles and practice of modem jurisprudence inale the 



602 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



courts. Thus in this progressive little island a single gen- 
eration has witnessed governmental changes that required 
in Europe centuries to perfect. 




THE FOLK CLASSES OK JAPANESE SOCIETY,— MILITAUY, A(i lilCl l.Tl'KAL, LA150K1NG, AND 
MERCANTILE (FROM A DRAWING BY A NATIVE ARTIST). 



X. CHINA. 

Some Chinese ports were opened to foreign trade while 
Japan was still tightly closed against foreigners; but 
China's progress in modern civilization has been very slow. 
In the Chinese-Japanese War of 1894-95 Japan was every- 
where successful, although her population and natural 
resources were but a tenth of what China could command. 
As a result of this war Japan gained Formosa and a money 
indemnity, and Korea was made independent. 

The weakness of the Chinese Empire having thus been 
shown, it is in danger of undergoing a partition among 
the principal European powers. Already Manchuria in the 
north has passed under the practical control of Russia; 
France has secured concessions in the south j Great Britain 



AFRICA. G03 

has asserted its exclusive influence (as against other foreign 
powers) over the great Yang-tze valley j and Germany and 
Italy have gained control of ports on the coast, with an 
undefined influence over the destinies of the adjoining in- 
land regions. 

XI. AFRICA. 

Almost the entire continent of Africa is now parceled out 
among European nations, by virtue of various treaties 
among themselves and with native tribes. European 
settlers have established roads, railroads, and telegraphs, 
and the continent is being rapidly opened to civilization. 

France conquered Algeria in the first half of the century, 
and she controls also Tunis, other parts of western Africa, 
and Madagascar. 

Great Britain took Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1806, 
and soon began to send colonists there. The Dutch colo- 
nists, or Boers, then moved northward and established the 
Orange Free State and the Transvaal, or South African 
Republic. The Transvaal was later annexed by Great 
Britain, but after a short war it secured a treaty (1881) 
which gave it independence in internal affairs, while in 
its foreign relations it was to be subject to Great Britain. 
When gold was found there in large quantities, a great 
many foreigners, chiefly British, went there to live, but 
were excluded from what they considered a fair share in 
the government. The resulting friction became acute in 
1896 and in 1899 led to a second war with Great Britain. 

Great Britain also controls the territory about the mouth 
of the Niger, and an almost continuous line of provinces 
from Cape Colony to Egypt. The Soudan, formerly be- 
longing to Egypt, became inde])endent soon after Gi*eat 
Britain assumed control of Egyptian affairs. But in 1898 



604 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1899. 

the army of Sir Herbert Kitchener won over the Soudanese 
the great battles of Atbara and Omdurman, and recovered 
the lost province. 

Germany and Portugal own extensive territories in the 
southern half of Africa. The Kongo Free State is con- 
trolled by the King of the Belgians. 

XII. THE SPANISH COLONIES — SOUTH AMERICA. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the chief 
Spanish colonies included the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto 
Rico, Mexico, Central America, and most of South America 
— except Brazil, which belonged to Portugal. When Napo- 
leon placed his brother on the Spanish throne, the loyalty 
of these colonies was weakened, and by 1825 all but the 
Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico won independence. 
Finally, a rebellion in Cuba led to a war between Spain and 
the United States (1898), by which Spain lost all three of 
these colonies. The former Spanish colonies on the Ameri- 
can continent had become republics; but Brazil, on sever- 
ing its connection with Portugal, became an empire. In 
1890, however, a revolution transformed that country also 
into a republic. Its President in 1899 was Campos Salles. 

READING REFERENCES. 

For works on the French Revolution, see p. 5.58.— Miillers History of Recent Times, 
translated by Peters {commended to all as an excellent resume of General History 
from 1816 to 18SI).— McCarthy's Epoch of Reform (Epochs of History Series).— Griffls's 
The Mikado's Umpire, and Political Progress in Japan {The Forum, Feb., 1891).— 
McCarthy's History of Our Own Times.— Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea.— Hunt's 
History of Italy {Freeman's Historical Course). — May's Constitutional History of 
England {especially valuable in its account of reforms).— Mackenzie's The Nineteenth 
Century.— Wrightson's History of Modern Italy, \»\a-^Q.— Felton's Ancient and 
Modern Greece.— Freeman's The Turk in Europe.— Talleyrand's Memoirs. 



APPENDIX. 



THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, as reckoned by the 
Greeks, were The Egyptian Pyi'amids ; The Temple, Walls, and 
Hanging Gardens of Babylon ; The Greek Statue of Jupiter at Olympia ; 
The Temple of Diana at Ephesus ; The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus ; 
The Pharos at Alexandria ; and The Colossus of Rhodes. All but the 
last three have already been described. 

The Mausoleum was a monument erected by Artemisia, Queen of 
Caria (b. c. 353), to her deceased husband Mausolus. It was built of 
the most precious marbles, and decorated in the highest style of Grecian 
art. Its cost was so immense that the philosopher Anaxagoras on 
seeing it exclaimed, ''How much money is changed into stone ! " Not 
a vestige of it now remains. 

TJte Pharos was a lighthouse built by the first two Ptolemies on 
the Isle of Pharos. The wi'ought stone of which it was constructed 
was adorned with columns, balustrades, etc., of the finest marble. 
The tower, protected by a sea-wall, stood about four hundred feet 
high, and its light could be seen over forty miles. 

TJie Colossus of Ehodes was a hollow bronze statue of Apollo, one 
hundred and five feet high, near the Rhodian harbor. An inner wind- 
ing staircase led up to the head. It was overthrown by an earthquake 
(224 B. c). The Delphic oracle having forbade its reerection, it lay 
in ruins for over nine centuries, when it was sold by the Saracens to a 
Jew, who, it is said, loaded nine hundred camels with the metal. 

The Seven Wise Men were variously named even in Greece. The 
following translation of a Grecian doggerel gives one version : — 

" I'll tell the names and sayings and the places of their birth 
Of the Seven great ancient Sages, so renowned on Grecian earth. 
The Lindian Cleol)ulus said, ' The man was still the best;' 
Tlie Spartan Chilo, ' Know thyself,' a heaven-born phrase confessed ; 
Corinthian Periandcr tauglit ' Our anger to command ; ' 
• Too much of nothing,' Pittacus, from Mitylene's strand ; 
Athenian Solon this advised, ' Look to the end of life ; ' 
And Bias from Prien6 showed ' Bad men are the most rife ; ' 
Milesian Tholes urged that ' None should e'er a surety be; * 
Few were these words, but, if you look, you'll much in little see." 

ColUns's Ancient Classics. 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

ANCIENT PEOPLES. 

1. How did a workman's scribble, made thousands of years ago, 
preserve a royal name, and link it to a monument? 

2. What king ordered the sea to be whipped because the waves 
had injured his bridges? 

3. Who among the ancients were the greatest sailors? Who had 
a religious horror of the sea? 

4. What kings took a pet lion when they went to war? Who once 
took cats and dogs ? Who used elephants in battle ? Camels ? Scythed 
chariots ? 

5. What is the oldest book in the world ? 

6. Compare the character of an Egyptian and an Assyrian ; an 
Egyptian and a Chinaman ; a Babylonian and a Persian. 

7. What king was so overwhelmed by his successes that he prayed 
for a reverse ? 

8. What Roman emperor gave up his throne to enjoy his cabbage- 
garden? 

9. What emperor once convened the senate to decide how to cook 
a fish? 

10. Who gained a kingdom by the neighing of a horse? 

11. Who is the oldest literary critic on record? 

12. What was the "Dispensary of the Soul"? 

13. Who was the "Egyptian Alexander the Great"? 

14. What statue was reported to sing at sunrise? 

15. Which of the earliest races is noted for intellectual vigor? For 
religious fervor? For massive architecture? 

16. What is the "Book of the Dead"? The Zend-Avesta? The 
Epic of Pentaur? The Rig- Veda? 

17. Who had a palace at Nimroud ? AtKoyunjik? AtKhorsabad? 
At Persepolis? At Luxor? At Karnak? At Susa? 

18. Compare the character of a Spartan and an Athenian ; a. Ro- 
man and a Greek. 

19. What people made the intoxication of their king an annual 
display? 

20. What city was called the " Daughter of Sidon and the Mother 
of Carthage"? What was the "School of Greece"? The "Eye of 
Greece " ? The " Seven-hilled City " ? 

21. What king had a servant remind him three times a day of a 
proposed vengeance? 

22. Who fought and who won the battle of Marathon? Plataea? 
Thermopylae? Salamis? Himera? Mycale? 

23. Who were the Cyclops? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. Ul 

24. Wliere and wlion wore iron coins nsod as currency? Gold and 
silver rings? Engraved gems? 

25. Who was Assliurbanipal? Tiglath-Pileser? Khufti? Seti? 
Assliur-izir-pal? Sennacherib? Cyrus? Canibyses? 

26. Which do you think was the most religious nation? The most 
warlike? The most patient? The most intellectual? The most ar- 
tistic ? 

27. Wliere were animals worshiped? The sun? The planets? 
The elements? Vegetables? The Evil Spirit? 

28. Who built the Great Wall of China? The Great Pyramid? 
The Labyrinth? 

29. How were women treated in Egypt? In Assyria? In Persia? 
In Athens? In Sparta? In Rome? 

30. Who was Buddha? Sebak? Pasht? Thoth? Bel? Ishtar? 
Moloch? Asshur? Ormazd? Nin? Nergal? Baal? 

31. How many Assyrian and Babylonian kings can you mention who 
bore the names of gods ? 

32. How did a Babylonian gentleman compliment the gods ? 

33. What does the word Pharaoh or Phrah mean? Ans. According 
to some authorities it means the sun, from the Egyptian "ph-Ra;" by 
others it is derived from "pe-raa," grand house, a title corresponding 
to our "Sublime Porte." 

34. Wlio was the ' ' Religious Conqueror " ? 

35. What were the Pools of Peace ? The realms of Hades ? 

36. Who was Che Hwang-te? Nebuchadnezzar? Darius? The 
Last of the Ptolemies? 

37. Who was the ''False Smerdis"? 

38. Who were the Accadians, and where did they live ? 

39. What city was captured during a royal revelry ? 

40. What nations believed in the transmigration of souls? 

41. When was the Era of Nabonassar? The First Olympiad? The 
age of Pericles? 

42. What famous story is related of Cornelia, the mother of the 
Gracchi? 

43. Mention the ornaments worn by gentlemen in ancient times. 

44. Who was the real Sardanapalus? Sesostris? 

45. What religion teaches that the vilest insects and even the seeds 
of plants have souls ? 

46. What poem is called the ''Egyptian Hiad "? 

47. What Roman emperor resembled Louis XI. of France in 
eliaracter? 

48. Wlio was Herodotus ? Manetho? Thucydides? Livy? Xeno- 
phou? Tacitus? Sallust? Ca?sar? 

49. What is meant by "seceding to the Sacred Moimt"? 



IV HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

50. What great war was begun through helping some pirates? 

51. What nation considered theft a virtue ? 

52. What Greek was called by Solon '^a bad imitation of Ulysses "? • 

53. What was the original meaning of slave f Of tyrant f 

54. Who sculptured the famous Niobe Group? 

55. What are the ^' Elgin Marbles "? 

56. Who were the "Lost Tribes"? 

57. A great king married the "Pearl of the East." Who was he? 
Who was she? Why did he marry her? 

58. Who were the Perioeki? The Helots? The Spartans? The 
Dorians? The lonians? The Hellenes? 

59. What is meant by "taking Egerean counsel"? 

60. What was the Amphictyonic Council? The Council of the 
Elders? The Court of Areopagus? 

61. Name the principal battles of the Persian wars; the Punic 
wars. 

62. Who engaged in the Messenian wars? 

63. What were the Seven Wonders of the World? 

64. Name the Seven Wise Men, with their mottoes, 

65. What Roman emperor amused himself by spearing flies? 

66. Who were the '^Five Good Emperors" of Rome? 

67. Name the most important Egyptian kings. What can you tell 
about them? 

68. Describe the ceremonies of the Magi. 

69. How many relics found in tombs can you mention? 

70. What is the Rosetta stone? The Behistun Inscription? 

71. Describe the Homa ceremony. 

72. What was the Apis ? ^ ' The Lights " ? 

73. Tell what you can of the Memnonium; the Colosseum; the 
Ramesseum; the Colossus of Rhodes; the Hanging Gardens of 
Babylon ; the Great Sphinx. 

74. Who was the greatest builder among the Pharaohs? 

75. What country forbade its priests to wear woolen undergarments ? 

76. Compare the dress and ceremonies of an Egyptian priest and 
a Roman flamen. 

77. Where was the Parthenon? The Palace of the Caesars? The 
Erechtheium? The ^^ Temple of the Sphinx"? 

78. What people had no sacred books? 

79. Who were the greatest borrowers among the ancients ? 

80. What is the difference between hieroglyphics and cuneiform 
writing? What peoples used them? 

81. What people used to write on the shoulder-bones of animals? 

82. Mention all the writing implements you can remember, and the 
peoples who used them. 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. V 

83. Who was Pindar? Simonides ? Horace? Sappho? Hesiod? 
Anaereon ? 

84. When was an array driven with whips to an assault? 

85. Who was ''Little Boot"? 

86. Give the origin of the word Vandal. 

87. How did a ray from the setting sun once save a city? 

88. What king sat on a marble throne while reviewing his army? 

89. What emperor once lighted his grounds with burning Chris 
tians? 

90. Wliat people wore a golden gi'asshopper as a head-ornament? 
"Wliat did it signify? 

91. Describe the Alexandrian Museum and Library. 

92. Wliat was the Athenian Lyceum? The Academy? 

93. Wliat Greek philosopher kept a drug-store in Athens? 

94. Describe the building of a pjTamid. 

95. What is the oldest account of the Creation? Of the Deluge? 
In what language were they written? 

96. How many great men can you name who died in prison? Who 
were assassinated? Who voluntarily committed suicide? Who were 
sentenced by law to kill themselves ? 

97. What Greek poem was found under the head of a mummy? 

98. What king began his reign by glorifying his father, and ended 
it by erasing his father's name fi'om the Temple walls and substituting 
his own? 

99. Mention the twelve great Grecian gods, with their attributes. 

100. What was the kinship of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, according to 
Egyptian mythology? 

101. Where did people ride on a seat strapped between two 
donkeys ? 

102. What gi'eat Greek philosopher was an oil speculator? 

103. Who were the Cynics? 

104. Describe a Chaldean home. 

105. What people buried their dead in stone jars? Who embalmed 
their dead? Wlio buried them in honey? Who exposed them to wild 
beasts? Who burned them? Who covered them with wax before 
bm'ial? Who made feasts for them? Give the post-mortem travels of 
Rameses XL 

106. Describe the education of an Egyptian boy. A Persian boy. 

107. Who were the "Ten Thousand Immortals"? 

108. Describe a Persian military march. 

109. Who invented the alphabet? 

110. What happened in Egypt when a cat died? A dog? 

111. Describe an Assyi'ian lion-hunt. 



VI HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

112. What nation excelled in sculptured bas-relief? In briek-enameV- 
iug? In bronze and marble statuary? In gem-cutting? 

113. Compare Egyptian and Assyrian art; religion; literature. 

114. Describe an Assyrian royal banquet; a Persian banquet of 
wine. 

115. What national architecture was distinguished by pyramids and 
obelisks ? By tall, slender pillars and elaborate staircases ? 

116. What nations built their houses on high platforms? 

117. Describe the education of a Spartan boy; an Athenian; a 
Roman. 

118. How did the Assyrians go to war? 

119. Who was called the " Third Founder of Rome "? 

120. How many times in Roman history was the Temple of Janus 
closed? Ans. Eight. 

121. What city was entitled "The Eldest Daughter of the Empire"? 

122. Who boasted that grass never grew where his horse had trodden? 

123. Wliat did Europe gain by the battle of Chalons? 

124. Describe a Macedonian phalanx. 

125. Who were the " Tragic Trio " of Greece? The Historical Trio? 

126. What people covered the mouth of their dead with gold-leaf? 
Who provided their dead with money to pay their fare across the river 
Styx? Who furnished them with dates for refreshment in the spirit- 
world? Tell what you can of the Egyptian Ka. 

127. Describe the stationery of the Egyptians; the Assyrians and 
Babylonians ; the Persians ; the Greeks and Romans. 

128. Who made the first discovery of an Assyrian monument? 

129. What people used second-hand coffins? 

130. What nation cased the beams of their palaces with bronze? 
Who overlaid them with silver and gold? 

131. What modern archaeologist discovered the remains of ancient 
Troy? Describe Cesnola's discoveries ; Flinders Petrie's. 

132. How did Rameses II. and Asshurbanipal resemble each other? 

133. Describe the contents and one of the regulations of Asshur- 
banipal's library. 

134. Who is your favorite Greek? Your favorite Roman? 

135. What people loaded the roofs of their houses with earth as a 
protection from sun and rain ? Who had roof -gardens ? [In Italy and 
in the East roof -gardens are still common.] 

136. When and where were bronze and iron used for jewelry? 

137. In what country was it considered disreputable for a gentleman 
to walk the streets without a cane ? 

138. In what country did gentlemen wear cylinders on their wrists? 
For what did they use them? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. Vll 

139. How did the views of tlie Greeks and tlio Persians diflfer in 
regard to tire and cremation ? 

140. Describe an Egyptian funeral ; a Greek ; a Roman. 

141. Who sowed corn over newly-made gi'aves? 

142. Describe an Egj^tian nobleman's home. 

143. Compare ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. 

144. Who was Aristophanes? Menander? Plautus? Terence T 
Lucian ? 

145. What people entertained a mummy as a guest at parties? 

146. Who were the Sargonida3? ISassauidai? Seleucidte? Alc- 
maeonidsB ? Heraclida3 ? 

147. Name the great men of the age of Pericles ; of the Augustan 
age. 

148. Describe a Theban dinner-party ; a Greek symposium ; a 
Roman banquet. 

149. How did an Egyptian fight? An Assyrian? A Babylonian? 
A Persian? A Greek? A Roman? 

150. Name ten gi'eat battles before the time of Chi'ist. 

151. Describe a Spartan home ; an Athenian ; a Roman. 

152. What Egyptian king changed the course of a river in order to 
found a city ? 

153. Describe the Magian rites. 

154. Tell what you can of a Roman Vestal. 

155. Who were the Three Graces? Three Fates? Three Hes- 
perides? Three Harpies? Thi-ee Gorgons? Three Fui-ies? 

156. Describe the Nine Muses. 

157. For what was the Pnyx celebrated? The Areopagus? 

158. In what country was it considered unamiable for a wife to refuse 
to wear her husband's clothes? 

159. What philosopher is said to have lived in a tub? 

160. What kind of table-napkins did the Greeks use? 

161. Who was the "Blind Bard"? The "Poet of the Helots"? 
The "Lame old Schoolmaster"? The "Lesbian Nightingale"? The 
" Theban Eagle " ? The ''Attic Bee " ? The '' Mantuan Bard " ? 

162. Who was called the ''Light of Mankind"? 

163. What poets dropped their shield in battle and ran from danger? 

164. How many Greek poets can you name? Latin poets? 

165. What were the *'Fouj" Great Schools of Philosophy"? 

166. A great philosopher, when burlesqued in a famous play, 
mounted a bench that the audience might compare him with his ridic- 
ulous counterpart. Who was he ? Who wrote the play ? Were they 
friends ? 

167. In what city was cock-and-quail fighting enjoined by law as an 
instructive exhibition? 



VUl HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

168. What Greek poet likened himself to a porcupine ? 

169. Who was Confucius? Lycurgus? Draco? ^sop? Solon? 

170. Describe the peculiar tactics that decided the battle of Mara- 
thon; Leuctra; Chseronea; Cannee. 

171. What were the Philippics? 

172. What great poets were linked with the battle of Salamis? 

173. Where, and as a reward for what, was a wreath of olive con- 
ferred? Of parsley? Of laurel? Of pine? 

174. What great orator received a golden crown for his public 
services ? 

175. What were the Eleusinian mysteries? What great poet is 
connected with them? Who was accursed for revealing them? 

176. What was a Greek trilogy? 

177. Who wrote a history named after the Nine Muses? 

178. Who was Eucles? Cleisthenes? Leonidas? Pausanias? 

179. Compare the style of Xenophon and of Thucydides. 

180. Who was the first authenticated ''reporter"? 

181. What philosopher was tried for atheism because he believed in 
one great God? 

182. Tell what you can of Pythagoras ; Socrates ; Plato ; Aristotle ; 
Zeno. 

183. Who was Cimon? Pericles? Aristides? Themistocles? 

184. Who was Mardonius? Xerxes? Miltiades? 

185. Describe a Babylonian wedding ; a Greek wedding ; a Roman 
wedding. 

186. Describe the Panathenaia ; the Feast of Dionysus. 

187. Compare the Babylonian Sacees and the Roman Saturnalia. 

188. Who were Hippias and Hipparchus? Who was Pisistratus? 

189. Who was Cleopatra? Mark Antony? Brutus? Pompey? 

190. What great philosopher was bom the year that Pericles died ? 

191. What great historian died in the year of the ''Retreat of the 
Ten Thousand"? 

192. Who formed the "First Triumvirate?" The Second? 

193. In what siege did the women braid their long hair into bow- 
strings ? 

194. Who were the Seven Sages? 

195. How did Hannibal lose an eye? 

196. On what field did the Macedonian phalanx fight its last battle? 

197. What was the characteristic of the first two centuries of the 
Roman republic ? 

198. How did the phrase "Romans and Quirites" arise? ^ 

199. Describe a triumphal entrance into Rome. 

200. What were the Laws of the Twelve Tables? 

201. Tell the story of the "Rape of the Sabines." 



IIISTOKICAL KECKEATIONS. IX 

202. Who refused a gift of land because ho akeady possessed seven 
acres ? 

203. How did Hannibal once outwit Fabius? 

204. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. 

205. In what battle were gold rings a part of the spoils? 

206. In what year did Nineveh fall? Babylon? 

207. During what battle did an earthquake occur without being 
noticed by the combatants? 

208. What province was left to the Romans by will ? 

209. What mathematician was killed in the midst of a problem? 

210. Who was Pliny the Younger's dearest friend? 

211. What famous general sat amid the ruins of a great city and 
quoted Homer? 

212. What warriors trimmed their hair on the eve of a battle? 

213. Distinguish between the different Scipios ; the two Catos ; 
the two Plinys. 

214. What poet was commemorated by the statue of a drunken old 
man? 

215. What general declared that the gi'eatest joy he had in a victory 
was the pleasure his success would give to his parents? 

216. What emperor boasted that he found his capital of brick, and 
left it of marble ? 

217. What emperor wore a toga woven by his wife and daughters? 

218. Who were Alexander's favorite artists? Who was his tutor? 

219. What was the Roman Poor Law? 

220. How many Roman emperors were murdered? How many com- 
mitted suicide? How many died a natural death? 

221. In what country were fat men suspected? 

222. Wliat battle ended the Roman republic? 

223. What great philosopher died the same year with Demosthenes? 
Which was the elder? 

224. Describe ''A Day in Rome ; " a Roman home. 



oo 



5. Describe the different modes of publishing books in ancient 
times. Name the royal founders of ancient libraries. 

226. When was the Era of Mart>TS? Of the Thirty T>Tants? 

227. What king had the title "Conqueror of Babylon" inscribed 
upon his signet-ring? 

228. Describe a morning in Nineveh. 

229. Tell something connected with Mount Olympus; Mount Par- 
nassus ; Mount Hymettus ; Mount Sinai ; Mount Pentelicus. 

230. How did his Roman citizenship help St. Paul? 

231. When did elephants win a battle? 

232. When did the Grecians fight in Italy? 

233. Who were the road builders, of antiquity? 



X HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

234. Show how the struggle of each petty Grecian state for autonomy 
prevented the unity and prosperity of Greece. 

235. Compare the personal rights of man among the ancients with 
those that he enjoys among the Christian nations of to-day. 

236. Describe the mode of Rome's growth as a nation. 

237. What was the character of Rome's government over her 
provinces ? 

238. Under what emperor did all the provincials acquire Roman 
citizenship? 

239. Explain the expression, ''Chaeronea was the cofi&n, as Marathon 
was the cradle, of Hellenic liberty." 

240. What was the origin of the word politics f Pagan ? 

241. Who first used the expression, " Delenda est Carthago"? 

242. Narrate the circumstances of the death of Archimedes. 

243. Describe the three popular assemblies of Rome. 

244. How did the Romans procure a model for the ships of their 
first fleet? 

245. What hostile general once threw a javelin over the walls of 
Rome? 

246. Who said, '^It is easier to turn the sun from its course than 
Fabricius from the path of honor " ? 

247. Tell the story of Lucretia ; Virginia ; Horatius Codes ; Mucins ; 
Romulus and Remus ; Coriolanus ; Cincinnatus ; Camillus ; Marcus 
Manlius ; Quintus Curtius ; Decius ; Caius Pontius. 

248. Name the twelve Caesars. 

249. For what is the date 146 B. c. noted? 

250. Describe the funeral of a Roman emperor. 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. Xi 

HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN PEOPLES. 

1. On a monument of Canova's in St. Peter's are inscribed the fol- 
lowing names of British sovereigns : James III., Charles III., and 
Henry IX. Who were they? 

2. Who was the '' Snow King " ? The " Winter King " ? 

3. We read in the history of France of the "Constitution of the 
Year III. ; " the " Constitution of the Year VIII. ; " the " Revolution of the 
18th Brimiaire ; " the " Revolution of the 18th Fructidor ; " etc. Explain. 

4. A historian says, ^'Morgarten was the Marathon of Switzer- 
land." Explain. 

5. What gi-eat war was waging in Europe during our War of 1812? 

6. Who was said to be the " fii*st man in Europe, and the second in 
France"? 

7. In what gi'eat emergency did the Dutch propose to imitate the 
Athenians ? 

8. Compare Cardinals Wolsey and Richelieu. 

9. It is said that the " Duke of Guise under Henry IH. threatened 
to be another Pepin to a second Childeric." Explain. 

10. Who were the " Sea Beggars " ? 

11. Who was the "nephew of his imcle"? 

12. Name the revolutions in France since 1789. 

13. What names of kings are common to England, France, and 
Germany ? 

14. What name is confined to England? France? Germany? 
Russia? 

15. Which was the most illustrious Henry of England? France? 
Germany ? 

16. What woman was the prime mover in the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew? 

17. What English king had six wives? 

18. What English king assumed the title of '' King of France "? 

19. Compare the Charleses of England with those of France. 

20. How many kings ruled in England dm-ing the reign of Louis 
XIV.? 

21. What was the difference between the titles ''King of the Ro- 
mans" and ''Emperor of Germany"? 

22. What German king kept an English king in prison until ran- 
somed? 



Xll HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

23. Name the German emperors who led an army into Italy. 

24. Who was the " First Gentleman in Europe " ? 

25. Who was the "Little Man in Red Stockings"? 

26. When did Russia first meddle in the affairs of western Europe? 

27. Which is the oldest nation in Europe? The youngest? 

28. Who was the "Last of the Tribunes"? 

29. Who was the " Madman of the North"? 

30. What Stuart sovereign did not meet a tragical end? 

31. What high office did Wolsey hope to secure? 

32. Who was the " Silent One "? The *' Lost Dauphin "? 

33. What was the Babylonish Captivity? 

34. Who was the "First of the Stuarts "? 

35. Name the different World's Fairs. 

36. What were the so-called " Reform Banquets "? 

37. Who was the "Conqueror of Crecy"? 

38. Describe the different Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. 

39. What three English kings, each the third of his name, reigned 
over fifty years ? 

40. When did France have an insane king? England? 

41. Who was the first of the Norman kings to die in England? 

42. Who was the " Merry Monarch " ? 

43. State the time, the cause, and the result upon Prussia, of the 
Seven-Years' War; the Seven-Months' (Franco-Prussian) War; the 
Seven-Weeks' War. 

44. Who was the " Conqueror of Blenheim " ? 

45. The Scots termed the Pretender "James VIII." Explain. 

46. What corresponding financial bubbles were blown in England 
and in France early in the 18th century? 

47. Who was the "Great Commoner"? 

48. Explain the sentence in Macaulay's History, "Hundreds of thou- 
sands whom the Popish Plot had scared into Whiggism, had been scared 
back by the Rye House Plot into Toryism." 

49. Who was called the '^Best of the Georges"? 

50. Who was Louis XVII. of France ? 

51. Who was "King Hal"? 

52. Who was Napoleon II. of France? 

53. A historian remarks, " In 1806 the 120th of the Csesars became 
only Francis 11. of Austria." Explain. 

54. Who was the "Citizen King^"? 

55. Whom did Carlyle style the "Great Prussian Drill Sergeant"? 

56. Who was the ''Conqueror of Agincourt"? 

57. How many republics have been established in France ? 

58. Name the principal battles of Cond6. 

59. A historian, remarking upon the reign of Louis XVI. of France, 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XUl 

pays, " There was now no Mayor of the Palace, no Count of Paris, no 
Henry IV., to found a new dynasty." Exphiin. 

60. Who was "Queen Bess"? 

61. Wliat was the cause of the long hostility between England and 
France? 

62. What is the Eui'opean States-System? 

63. Who was the "Iron Duke"? 

64. Who was the "Greatest of the Plantagenets"? 

65. State the origin of the Methodists ; of the Friends. 

66. WTien was the last States-General convened in France T 

67. Who was the first Prince of Wales? 

68. Who was the "King of Bourges"? 

69. Describe the effect of the Norman Conquest of England. 

70. When Charles XII. invaded Russia, Peter said, "My brother 
Charles affects to play the part of Alexander ; but I think he will not 
find in me a Darius." Explain. 

71. Who was the " Old Pretender " ? The " Young Pretender " ? 

72. What prime minister governed the English Parliament by 
bribery? 

73. Who was "Good Queen Anne"? The "Virgin Queen"? 

74. Contrast the conduct of the spectators at the execution of 
Charles I. and of Louis XVI. 

75. Who was the "Napoleon of Peace "? 

76. Who was the fii-st king of England? 

77. Compare the fate and the character of Richard II. and Ed- 
ward II. of England. 

78. Who was styled the "King of the French"? 

79. Why did the Normans finally blend so easily with the Anglo- 
Saxons in England? 

80. What were the causes of the French Revolution? 

81. What is meant by the Balance of Power? 

82. In what respect did the conquest by the Turks resemble that 
by the Germans? 

83. When did the tiei'S etat get its first representation in France? 

84. Who were Wesley and WTiitefield? 

85. Compare the close of the Carlovingian dynasty in France with 
that of the Merovingian. 

86. Tell what the Normans did in Europe. 

87. Who was the "Prisoner of Ham"? (Napoleon III.) 

88. What was the Pragmatic Sanction? 

89. Why are there so many French artisans in England? 

90. Who was Henry V. of France ? 

91. What kings had titles referring to physical qualities? To men- 
tal qualities? 



XIV HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

92. What was the Treaty of Paris? Vienna? Presburg? Lune- 
ville? Amiens? Campo Formio? Passau? Tilsit? Utrecht? Aix- 
la-Chapelle ? Nimeguen ? Ryswick ? 

93. State the causes, effects, principal battles, and prominent gen- 
erals of the Hundred- Years' War. 

94. Bound France at the accession of Capet. 

95. What event in English history did Napoleon's dispersion of the 
Five Hundred resemble ? 

96. Who was the "Grand Monarch"? 

97. Who were the most despotic kings named in history? 

98. Who was the " Count of Chambord " ? Who is ''Eugenie "? 

99. Who fought the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and 
Malplaquet? 

100. When and where were the Reformers called Protestants? 

101. Who were the Whigs? The Tories? What was the origin of 
these names? 

102. What was the Fronde? 

103. For what is Sully famous? 

104. Quote some noted historical passages from Shakspere. 

105. When did the Germans first invade France ? 

106. Who were the " Do-nothing kings " ? 

107. In how many great battles were the Austrians defeated by Na- 
poleon? 

108. What French king made the first invasion of Italy? The last? 

109. Who was the "Hero of Rocroi"? 

110. Who fought the battles of Fontenoy, Raucoux, and Lawfelt? 

111. Who was the "Sailor King"? 

112. For what is Francis I. noted in history? Louis XIV. ? Louis 
XV. ? Henry IV. of France? Henry IV. of Germany? 

113. What was the Edict of Nantes? 

114. Who was the last king of France? The last emperor? 

115. What two great generals died during a tempest? 

116. State what was decided by the Peace of Westphalia. 

117. Who was "Corporal Violet"? 

118. Who fought the battles of Rocroi, Freiburg, Nordlingen, and 
Lens? 

119. What French kings reigned during the time of the Crusades? 

120. For what is Colbert noted? Louvois? 

121. Wlio were the Huguenots? 

122. State the principal events in the life of Luther. 

123. Who were the Nonconformists? 

124. Name the chief kings of the 14th century ; the 18th. 

125. Who was King of France in 1066? 1572? 1648? 1776? 

126. Give the origin of the French " tricolor." 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XV 

127. What important event occurred at the Diet of Worms t 

128. Wlio was the great rival of Charles V, ? 

129. What was Napoleon's first great victory? His last? 

130. What was the Confession of Augsburg? 

131. Who were the Puritans ? The Separatists? The Independents? 

132. Explain the following sentence used by an historian : " Pope 
Gregory XIII. saw in Henry III. a second Louis V., and in Henry 
Duke of Guise a new Hugh Capet." 

133. Tell the story of the Spanish Armada. 

134. Describe the English Revolution of 1688. 

135. Whose motto was " Divide and govern " ? 

136. Describe the pomp, power, and fate of Wallenstein. 

137. How many gi'eat battles did Napoleon lose ? 

138. Name the causes, effects, duration, principal battles, and prom- 
inent generals, of the War of the Spanish Succession. 

139. What was the object of the Council of Trent? 

140. Describe the events by which the Church of England was 
separated from Rome. 

141. Tell the story of Essex and the ring. 

142. What was the life-purpose of William, Prince of Orange ? 

143. Who was the "Little Corporal"? 

144. What was the Tennis-court oath? 

145. What was the cause of the downfall of Napoleon I. ? Napo- 
leon III. ? 

146. What English monarch was the contemporary of Charles V. 
and Luther? 

147. What was the fate of Archbishop Cranmer? 

148. Name and distinguish the three famous Princes of Orange. 

149. Describe the sack of Magdeburg. 

150. What French kings reigned during the time of the Hundred- 
Years' War? 

151. Was Henry VIII. favorable to Luther? 

152. What effect did the massacre of St. Bartholomew have upon 
the civil war in France? 

153. What marriage laid the foundation of the rivalry between the 
houses of Austria and France? 

154. Who prepared the Book of Common Prayer? 

155. Who was .lohn Calvin? George Fox? 

156. Name the best kings in the Capetian line; the Carlovingian 
line ; the Tudor line ; the Stuart line ; the Bourbon line ; the Plan- 
tagenet line. 

157. What was the character of Catharine de' Medici? 

158. Describe the last days of Charles V. 

159. What was the object of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes T 



XVl HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

160. What peculiar tactics did Napoleon adopt at Austerlitz? 

161. What was the effect of the battle of Naseby? 

162. What were Eichelieu's aims ? 

163. What was the peculiarity of the reign of Charles II. of England? 

164. What French king married Mary, afterward Queen of Scots? 

165. What was meant by ship-money? 

166. What was the Long Parliament? 

167. What queens of France were divorced? 

168. What is meant by the "Sun of Austerlitz"? 

169. What was the duration of the so-called Hundred-Years' War? 

170. What was the Gunpowder Plot? 

171. Tell something about the character of Marlborough. 

172. What was ''Pride's Purge"? 

173. What was the Battle of the Nations? 

174. What was the Day of the Sections? 

175. What was the Seven- Years' War called in America? 

176. Who was the "Hero of Marston Moor"? 

177. For what is the elder Pitt noted? 

178. How many Henrys were among the kings of France? 

179. How many French kings have surrendered to the enemy? 

180. Describe the glory of Cromwell's Protectorate. 

181. What king learned the ship-builder's trade? 

182. What great capitals of Europe did Napoleon enter in triumph? 

183. Sketch the life of Charles XII. of Sweden. 

184. What does the change of name from Northmen to Normans in- 
dicate ? 

185. What infant in his cradle received the title of the ''King of 
Rome"? (See Brief Hist. France.) 

186. In what battle w^'*e spurs of more service than swords? 

187. Who were the Leaguers ? 

188. What was Walpole's policy? 

189. Who were the Schoolmen? 

190. Who were the Ironsides ? 

191. Name the great battles fought between the French and the 
English. 

192. What was the Rump Parliament? 

193. Who is sometimes styled Napo'^t>n IV.? 

194. Why was Cromwell's rule distasteful to the English? 

195. How many coalitions leading to war have been made against 
France ? 

196. How many years have the descendants of Capet occupied the 
throne of France? 

197. What was the Declaration of Rights? 

198. Who was John Law? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XVU 

199. What was the Black Hole? The Black Death? 

200. Which was the first victory of the French Kei)iiblic? Its eflfectf 

201. Should Louis XVL be blamed for the Revolution? 

202. How many times did Napoleon enter Vienna as a conqueror? 

203. When did Kossuth appear in history? 

204. Describe the Reign of Terror. 

205. How many years has the government of France been a repub- 
lic? An empire? 

206. Name the principal actors in the Jacobin rule during the French 
Revolution. 

207. Who were the Carbonari? 

208. Wliere are the keys of the Bastile? 

209. What were the Assignats? 

210. What was the Test Act? 

211. What gi-eat poet helped Greece achieve its freedom? 

212. Who was the Black Prince? 

213. What great events occurred in the time of Philip I. ? 

214. What was the Renaissance ? 

215. Illustrate how often, in history, a strong king has been followed 
by a weak one. 

216. What was the first English Reform Bill? 

217. What great war was marked by the capture of a king and a 
pope, and the sack of Rome? 

218. What great political crime was perpetrated soon after the Seven- 
Years' War? 

219. To what line of kings did Charles V. of France belong? Henry 
IV. of France? Henry IV. of England? Henry IV. of Germany? 
Louis XV. ? Charles the Simple of France? 

220. Who was "Father Fritz"? 

221. What was the German Confederation t When was it formed? 

222. On the public buildings in Paris are inscribed the words, 
"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternit6." Whence did this motto take its rise? 

223. Why was not the art of printing discovered earlier than the 
15th century? (This question is designed to bring up the general 
relation of supply and demand. ) 

224. Who was the ''Corsican Adventurer"? 

225. Name the great victoric ^ of Luxemburg. 

226. How did Marlborough's fall affect continental affairs? 

227. What memorable event occuiTed at the siege of Leyden in 1574? 

228. In what battle did Gustavus Adolphus fall? 

229. What victories did the Prince of Orange win over the French! 

230. What was the South Sea Bubble? 

231. How is the history of Maria Theresa linked with that of Fred* 
erick the Great ? 



Xvm HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

232. What monarch wore high-heeled shoes to increase his stature? 

233. What is meant by the elder and the younger branch of the 
Bourbons? 

234. Name some standard life of Frederick the Great ; Louis XIV. ; 
Charles XII. ; Peter the Great ; Napoleon ; Charles V. 

235. What was the Mississippi scheme? How did it affect this 
country? 

236. Whence did the French derive their love of a strong, centralized 
government ? 

237. Name the standard histories of England, and state their pecu- 
liarities and the periods they cover. 

238. When and by whom was St. Petersburg founded? 

239. How many Johns have reigned in France ? In England? 

240. Sketch the character of the "Four Georges." 

241. When and how did France lose Canada? 

242. What kings were assassinated? 

243. What ruler occupied a different bed every night? 

244. Illustrate the love of his soldiers for Napoleon I. 

245. What was the Golden Bull? 

246. What was the Aulic Council? 

247. Who were the Girondists? 

248. Who were the Roundheads ? The Cavaliers? 

249. How did the character of George III. affect this country? 

250. Name the great men who clustered about Louis XIV. 

251. What women have exerted a great influence on French history? 

252. What was the fate of Marat? Danton? Robespierre? 

253. What great victories did Nelson achieve? Effect? 

254. When, where, and between whom, was the battle of Guinegate 
fought? Steinkirk? Lens? Blenheim? Jena? Pa via? Waterloo? 
Wagram ? Oudenarde ? 

255. What influence did our Revolutionary War have upon France? 

256. What great battle finally checked the Turkish advance in 
Europe ? 

257. Describe the retreat from Moscow. 

258. Sketch the growth of the Papacy after the fall of Rome. 

259. What was Queen Anne's war called in Europe? 

260. What monarch persecuted the Protestants in France, and yet 
protected them in Germany? Why? 

261. With what European nations was England engaged in war dur- 
ing our Revolution? 

262. What modern nation, in imitation of ancient Rome, has been 
governed by a consul? 

263. In what century was the age of Louis XIV. ? The age of 
Elizabeth? The age of Richelieu? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XIX 

264. Who suppressed the Knights Templars? 

265. What was our King William's War called in Europe? 

266. What great battles have been fought on the plains of Leipsic ? 

267. What was the point of difference between the Calvinists and 
the Lutherans? 

268. Name the principal battles of Napoleon I. 

269. Give an account of Napoleon at the Bridge of Lodi. 

270. What were the Berlin decrees ? 

271. What is meant in French history by the Revolution? The 
Hundred Days? The Restoration? 

272. For what achievement is Sobieski noted? 

273. Who were the Janissaries? 

274. Sketch Wellington's career. 

275. Who w^as the "Exile of St. Helena"? 

276. Duruy says, "Napoleon HI. was not a royal do-nothing." Ex- 
plain the allusion. 

277. What was the cause of the long hatred between England and 
France ? 

278. What great statesman died on hearing of the battle of Austerlitz ? 

279. When was the temporal power of the Pope foimded? 

280. "The dream of Charlemagne and Charles V. was Napoleon's 
also." Explain. 

281. What was the Zollverein? 

282. What were the causes of the French Revolution of 1830? 
1848? 1871? 

283. For what is the year 800 noted? 1000? 1066? 1346? 1415? 
1492? 1494? 1517? 1525? 1558? 1571? 1572? 1588? 1598? 
1630? 1648? 1666? 1704? 1707? 1756? 1775? 1789? 

284. Sketch Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. 

285. What was the object of the Anti-Corn-Law League? 

286. Who were the Chartists? 

287. Name some Italians who have attained prominence in French 
polities. 

288. What was the effect upon Eui-opean history of the marriage of 
Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian ? 

289. What is the Code Napoleon? 

290. Wliat was the kingdom of Burgundy? 

291. Wliat curious story is told of Rollo's doing homage for his fief? 

292. How did Charlotte Corday's dagger precipitate the Reign of 
Terror? 

293. Name some incident of the battle of Ivry. 

294. What was Cavour's policy ? 

295. What was Luther's object in posting the ninety-five theses on 
the cathedral door? 



XX HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

296. What child-kings have occupied the throne of France? Of 
England? 

297. Who is the "Sick Man"? 

298. What became of Josephine after the fall of Napoleon? Maria 
Louisa? (See Brief Hist, France.) 

299. Where did the charge of the Six Hundred occur? 

300. Name the causes and effects, the duration, the principal battles, 
and the prominent generals, of the Seven-Years' War. 

301. What French king had the longest reign? The shortest? 

302. What was the effect of the battle of Morgarten? Nancy? Wa- 
terloo? Jena? Jemmapes? Kunnymede? Pavia? 

303. Describe the state of the Church when Luther appeared. 

304. What three great European monarchs were contemporaneous 
in the 16th century? 

305. How many French kings have been dethroned? 

306. What will be the probable effect upon Italy of the Suez Canal? 

307. Wliat caused the hostility between Zwingle and Luther? 

308. WTio was the "Golden-footed Dame"? 

309. When did a charge of a small body of cavalry decide a great 
battle? 

310. How many times have foreign armies taken Paris? 

311. What was the Holy Alliance? 

312. What is meant by the " Three Days of July"? 

313. What folly did Prince Rupert commit at the battle of Naseby? 

314. Why did Francis I. form an alliance with the Turks? 

315. What three kings in succession led great armies into Italy? 

316. Who was the chevalier "without fear and without reproach"? 

317. What king sent his own sons to prison in order to release him- 
self? 

318. Relate some anecdote, or state some interesting fact, concerning 
Cromwell ; Napoleon ; Louis XIV. ; Peter the Great ; Charles XII. ; 
Charlemagne ; Mary Queen of Scots ; Elizabeth. 

319. What was the Smalcaldic War? 

320. Explain the couj) d'etat of Dec. 2. 

321. What was the League of Cambrai? 

322. State the causes of the Guelf and Ghibelline feud. 

323. Name the great events that marked the beginning of the 
modern era. 

324. What was the War of the Investiture? 

325. When and where was gimpowder first used in battle? 

326. What was the needle-gun? 

327. What was an interdict? 

328. What island kingdom has accomplished in a generation what 
required centm-ies in Europe to perfect? 



HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. XXI 

329. Tell the sad story of Lady Jane Grey. 

330. Distinguish between the two Maurices named in history. 

331. Name the leaders in the French Civil-Keligious War. 

332. Who was the first Bourbon king? 

333. What were Mary Stuart's claims to the English throne? 

334. What was the Conquest of Granada? How is that event con- 
nected with our history? 

335. What was Magna Charta? 

336. What were the causes of the Revival of Learning? 

337. Who was Tilly? 

338. What is the tricolored flag? How did it originate ? 

339. Who was the ''Horace of France"? 

340. Describe Charles H.'s alliance with Louis XIV. 

341. Li what respect did Charles I. resemble his father? 

342. What great battles were won with the longbow? 

343. Compare the influence of the discovery of gunpowder with 
that of printing. 

344. WTiat points of contrast were there between the first Stuart 
king of England and the Tudors ? 

345. What is meant by the "divine right of kings"? 

346. What was the Triple Alliance? 

347. Name two instances in which a spider has changed the fate of 
a great man. 

348. Describe the Saracenic civilization in Spain. 

349. What event caused Wolsey's fall ? 

350. Show how the doctrines and forms of the English Church were 
shaped under Edward VI. 

351. What were the greatest events of the 15th century? 16thf 
17th? 18th? 

352. What effect did the Crusades have upon Europe? 

353. What was the Congress of Vienna? 

354. Sketch the steps by which Prussia became the head of Ger- 
many. 

355. With what generals are the battles of Fleurus, Steinkirk, and 
Neerwinden connected? 

356. In what great campaign was the bayonet first used? 

357. How did Richelieu capture Rochelle? 

358. Who was the " Upholsterer of Notre Dame " ? 

359. What is meant by the devastation of the Palatinate T 

360. Who were the Moors of Spain ? 

361. What was the Ladies' Peace? 

362. Who were the Knights of St. John? 

363. State the "pivotal point," or the tactics, or some marked inci- 
dent, that decided the issue of the following battles, and by which they 



XXli HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

can be remembered: Pa via; Leipsic ; Lech; Liitzen ; Freiburg; 
Marston Moor; Naseby; battle of the Boyne; Plains of Abraham; 
Lodi ; Arcole ; Eivoli ; Austerlitz ; Waterloo. 

364. What king wrote an essay against the use of tobacco ? 

365. What was the Petition of Right? 

366. What was "Thorough"? 

367. Who were the Covenanters? 

368. What was the effect of Luther's translating the Bible? 

369. Describe the extent and power of the Spanish Empire under 
Charles V. and Philip II. 

370. Who were the Jacobites? The Jacobins? 

371. Describe the amusements of three noted kings reigning in the 
early part of the 18th century. 

372. Quote Johnson's verses upon Charles XII. 

373. What event marked the opening of the 18th century? 

374. Name the last battle in which an English king fought in 
person. 

375. What monarch said that he " treated as a prince, and not as a 
merchant "? ''I make war on the living, not on the dead "? 

376. When did a death save a great king? 

377. Tell the story of the famous wind-mill still shown at Potsdam. 

378. State the steps of the Unification of Italy. 

379. Who was the "Hero of the Red Shirt"? 

380. What effect did the Franco-German War of '71 have upon Italy ? 

381. What war was brought on by the closing of two churches? By 
the massacre of a congregation? 

382. How did Italy become a province of the Eastern Empire? 

383. What remarkable man was born in Arabia in the 6th century ? 

384. Explain why the Crusaders encountered in Palestine both 
Turks and Saracens. 

385. What tales describe Arabian manners and customs in the 8th 
century? 

386. What complaint was made against the earliest Hanoverian 
kings of England? 

387. During how many years was England a republic? 

388. Which one of Napoleon's generals did the Congress of Vienna 
allow to retain his throne ? 

• 389. Who was the author of the inductive method of reasoning? 

390. Mention some of Mohammed's doctrines. 

391. What was the Continental System? 

392. Why did the Puritans emigrate to America? 

393. What literature was diffused by the fall of Constantinople? 

394. Describe the expulsion of the Moors from Spain by Philip III. 

395. Show how trade with India has enriched Eui'ope. 



HliSTOKlCAL RECKEATiONS. XXU^ 

396. What was the greatest extent of the Saracen Empire? 

397. How many queens have ruled Enghind? 

398. Name the "Four Conquests of Enghind." 

399. Which is the longest war named in European history? 

400. Sketch the principal steps in the growth of constitutional 
liberty in England. 

401. Do the Turks belong in Europe? 

402. State the cause, duration, decisive battle, and effect of the War 
of the Roses. 

403. What English reign coincided with three French reigns, and, 
vice veri^a, wliat French reign coincided with three English ones ? 

404. Sketch the principal features of feudalism. 

405. Who was the "Monk of Cluny"? 

406. Who was the "Groat Captain"? 

407. What remarkable men lived during the last decade of the 15th 
century? 

408. What famous duke died in a pool of water by the roadside? 

409. What treaty was negotiated upon a raft in the river? 

410. How long was Hanover joined to England? 

411. What solitary act of courage did Richard II. show? 

412. Who was Henry the Fowler? , 

413. Contrast early German with early French history. 

414. Is there a sharp division between any two ages in history? 

415. Wliat Dutcli admiral tied a broom to his masthead ? 

416. How long after the battle of Hastings did the Great Fire at 
London occur? 

417. Repeat the epigram upon Charles I. -t. 

418. What daughter helped expel her father from his throne? 

419. Who was Peter Zimmermann? 

420. Wlio was the Great Elector? 

421. What king had a body-guard of giants? 

422. When did the Battle of the Three Emperors occur? 

423. Wlien did the Pope come to Paris to crown a French king? 

424. When did the birth of an heir cost an English king his crown? 

425. Tell the story of Maria Theresa before the Hungarian Diet. 

426. Was Cromwell justified in executing Charles I. ? 

427. What was the New Model? 

428. What two great men had the power, but dare not take the title, 
of king? 

429. Sketch the general characteristics of the Stuarts ; the Tudors. 

430. What was the Praise-God Barebone's Parliament? 

431. What was the longest gap between two successive English Par- 
liaments? Two French States-Generals? 

432. Who said, "Better a drowned land than a lost land"? 



XXIV HISTORICAL RECREATIONS. 

433. What was ^'Morton's Fork"? 

434. " Francis I. on his way to Paris from Madrid vapored much of 
Regulus." Explain. 

435. Charles V. once said, ''I do not intend to blush like Sigis- 
mund." Explain. 

436. What English kings were authors ? 

437. What was the Revolt of the Beggars? 

438. Who said, "Some birds are too big for any cage"? 

439. Who was the "Tyrant of the Escurial"? 

440. Why did not Pope Clement VII. dare to offend Charles V. ? 

441. What English minister lost his head for getting his king a 
homely wife ? 

442. Who was the first queen-regnant of England ? 

443. Who was styled the "Flower of Chivalrie"? 

444. What kings have expelled from their dominions large classes 
of their subjects? 

445. Contrast the general characteristics of the middle ages with 
those of the modern era. 

446. Who was the "King-maker"? 

447. What was the Holy Roman Empire? 

448. Name several instances, of the general persecuting spirit of 
former times. 

449. What English author defends the character and conduct of 
Henry VIII. ? 

450. Describe the growth and influence of free cities in the middle 



451. Mr, Bagehot writes, "The slavish Parliament of Henry VIII. 
grew into the murmuring Parliament of Queen Elizabeth, the mutinous 
Parliament of James L, and the rebellious Parliament of Charles I." 
Explain, 

452. What great events occurred in 1689? 

453. Was Napoleon I. 's reign a permanent benefit to France? What 
was its general effect upon Europe? 

454. When did a beggar's grandson become a king? 

455. Who said, "I am the state"? 

456. Who was the '^Last of the Knights"? 

457. What peasant girl became a queen ? 

458. Has Germany or France ever had a queen-regnant? 

459. To what historical event is allusion made in the poem begin- 
ning,— 

" On Linden, when the sun was low, 
All bloodless lay the uiitroddeu snow?" 

460. Name the fifteen most decisive battles and sieges of modern 
times, and state the reasons for the selection. 



i 



INDEX 

AND PllONOUNClNG VOCABULARY. 

:>: !> The figures refer to the page number. 

Note. — Diacritical marks are as follows : a, e, I, 6, u, are long ; rf, ^, i, d, ri, short, 
as in (im, nutt, In, 6n, up; d, a, d, a, as iii aire, arm, ask, all ; it as in full; c as in tirm ; 
e as in there ; f like s ; g like j ; ch like k ; § like z ; th &s in thine. 



Ahbassides (ah-bas'Idz), the, 330. 

AlHlalhxh, 405. 

Abe-lard, 413. 

Abou Beker (a'l)oo bek'r), 327. 

Al)oukir (jx-boo-keer';, battle oi, .5.51. 

Abram in Canaan, 80 ; in Egypt, 39. 

Aby'dus, temple of, 18. 

Ac:idemy at Athens, the, 175, 282. 

Ac'cad, 45, 40. 

Acca'dian, the, 45. 

Acli£e'an League, the, 157. 

Achaeans, concjuest of, by Dorians, 117. 

Achaia (a-ka'va), province of, 237. 

Acliilles (a-kU'leez), 110, 190. 

Acre (aker), 400, 403, 551. 

AcrSp'olis, 123, 128, 145, 180-182, 187, 194. 

Actiiira (ak'slie ilni), battle of, 254. 

Addison, Joseph, 553. 

Adelheid (a'd61-hid), married to Otto, 375. 

A'drian IV., Pope, 391 

Adriano'ple, capture of, 407. 

^'diles, Roman, 271. 

iEgOspOfilmi, battle of, 145. 

.^iie'as, 117, 205. 

^ne'id, the, 117, 275. 

^-o'li-an war, the, 116. 

^-oric Colonies, 118. 

JE quians, the, 220. 

^schines (6s'ki-neez), 173. 

^schylus (es'ki-las), 127, 165, 168, 192. 

Msop (e's5p), 173, 174. 

Aetius (a-e'shi-ils) at Chalons, 268. 

^to'li-an League, 157. 

.^tolians, the, at Thermopylae, 237. 

Africa, 19, 328, 420, 003. 

Agamem'non captures Troy, 116. 

AgStho-cle?, tyrant of Sitily, 79. 

Agesila'us, King of Sparta, 146. 

Agiucourt (i^-zhan-koor'), battle of, GG6. 

A'^is, King of Sparta, 179. 

Ag^ora, the Athenian, 182. 

Agrarian Law, 216. 

Agiic'ola conquers Britain, 260, 337. 

Agrigen'tuni, capture of, 227. 

Agrippa, 214, 9>)8. 

Agrippina (a-grip pi'na), 259. 

A'hab, 48. 

A'haz, 49. 

Ahrinian (iih'ri-man), Persian god, 98. 

Aix(aks), battle of, 242. 

Ai.x-la-Chapelle (aks lii-slui-pel'), 336, .381, 

490, 529. 
Ajaceio (ii-yat'clio), 540. 
Al'aric the Goth, 267. 



Al'ba Lon'ga, 205, 209. 

Albert I., Duke of Austria, 384, 387, 388. 

Albert II., 384 

Albert, Prince, .586. 

All)er'tus Alag'nus, 413. 

All)igen'se§, the, 358. 

Albuera (ai-bwa'rii), battle of, 568. 

Al(,a3'us, Greek poet, 164. 

Alcazar (ai-kiizar), tlie, 43.5. 

Al9ibi'a-de§, 141, 14', 144, 175. 

Alc-mse-On'idiie, the, 12.3, 124. 

Alcuiii (al'kwiu), 336, 349. 

Alexander the Great, 150-152, 177. 

Alexander of Russia, £62, 565. 

Alexander Seve'rus, 262. 

Alexandria, 151, 154, 328, 551. 

Alfonso of Aragon, 395. 

Alfred the Great, 339, 349. 

Algiers (al-jeerz'), 492. 

Alhani'bra, the, 330, 405. 

Allia, 221. 

AUo'dial Lands, 408. 

Alma, battle of, 586. 

Aii.habet, 77, 113. 

Alsace (iil-sas'), 485, 580. 

Al'tis, the Greek, 181, 186. 

Al'va, Duke of, 446. 

Alvinczy (al-vln'tse), .549, 5.50. 

Ani'bro§e. See Christian Fathers. 

.Amenemhe (a-men-em'e) III., 39. 

America, discovery of, 387, 40.', 427. 

Amiens (a'mi-an), 358, 559. 

AniphTcty6n'ic Comicil, 11,5, 149. 

Amphitheater, Flavian (Colosseum), 284. 

Ani'unoph III., 17. 

Aunirath (il-moo-rat'), 407. 

Auab'asis, the, 172. 

Anac'reon, 164. 

Anaxjlg'oras, 167, 174. 

Anaximan'der, 174. 

Androni'cus, Livius, 273. 

An'ielo, Michael, 395, 424, 467. 

Anglo-Saxons. 318, 338, 339, £47. 

Angora, battle of, 406. 

Anjou (On-zhoo'), Dukes of, 430. 

Anne of Austria, 488. 

Anne of Beaujeu (bo-zhoo'), 370. 

Anne of 01 eves, 400. 

Aiuie of England, 512. 

Antrd'(.-idas, Pence of, 146. 

Anti-Corn Law League, .585. 

An'ti-fteh, 155, 237, 399. 

Anti'o-chus the Great, 234, 237. 

Antip'ater, 1.50. 



XXVI 



INDEX. 



Antls'thene§, 177, 194. 

An'tonines, ;ige of the, 261. 

Antoni'nus, Marcus, 261. 

Antoninus Pius, 261. 

An'tuny, Mark, 251-254. 

Aiit'werp, 445. 

Ap61'le§, 155, 183. 

Ape'pi II., 80. 

Aphrodite, 184. 

A'pis, 81. 

Ap61'lo (Apollon), 184. 

Apollodo'rus, Greek painter, 182. 

Apollo'nius, Greek poet, 155. 

Ap'pian Way, tlie, 283. 

Ap'pius Claudius, 217, 283. 

Aqueducts of Home, 282. 

Aqui'nas, Thomas, 413. 

Ar'abs, 326-331, 417. 

Ar'agon, 404. 

Arbe'la, battle of, 151. 

Arc, Joan of. See Jeanm d'Arc. 

Arch of Constantine, 284 ; of Severus, 284 ; 
of Titus, 284, 396. 

Ar-ehan'gel, first Russian seaport, 520. 

Ar-chida'mus, 140, 141. 

AreWl'ochus, 163. 

Archimedes (ar-ki-medeez), 155, 234. 

Architecture. See Art. 

Ar'€hons, Athenian, 121. 

Arcole (ar-ko'la), battle of, 549. 

A-re-6p'agus, court of, 122, 194. 

A're§ (Mars), god of war, 184, 192. 

Argonautic Expedition, 115. 

Ar'gOs, 117, 146. 

Aria or Iran, 10. 

Ariad'ne, 185. 

A'riani§m, 265, 266. 

Aristi'des, 128, 129, 132, 135. 

Aristode'mns, 193. 

Arist6ph'ane§, 155, 169, 175, 199. 

AristOt'le, 150, 176, 177, 194, 413. 

A'rius, 265. 

Arkwright, Sir Richard, 556. 

Armada, the Invincible, 464. 

Arinagnacs (ar-miin-yaks'), 366-368. 

Arminiiis, 256. 

Armor. See Military Ciistoms. 

Arquebus (ar'kwe-btls), 436. 

Arsa'gidse, the, 156. 

Art, Assyrian and Babylonian, 55, 71, 72, 
113, 413 ; Carlovingian, 336 ; Chaldean, 
64, 65, 71 ; Chinese, 110 ; Egyptian, 26, 
44, 413 ; English, early, 349, 350 ; French, 
early, 372; German, early, 325; Greek, 
137, 'l45, 154, 158, 180, 192, 194, 201 ; He- 
brew, 85 ; Hindoo, 105 ; mediaeval, 316, 
414 ; Persian, 96, 104 ; Phcenician, 77 ; 
Roman, 281, 285, 305, 310 ; Saracen, 330 ; 
16th century, 467 ; 17th century, 515, 
517 ; 19th century, 561. 

Artaxerxes(ar-takserks'eez), 135, 145. 

Artaxerxes (Babegan), 156. 

Ar'temis, 184, 189, 194. 

Arthur, Prince, 358. 

Artois (ar-twji), 358, 370, 489. 

Arts and inventions, Assyriati and Baby- 
lonian, 48, .59, 71, 72; Carlovingian, 
336; Chaldean, 64 ; Chinese, 111 ; Egyp- 
tian, 28, 44; English, 349; French, 
early, 372 ; German, 325, 384 ; Greek, 



183 ; Hebrew, 85 ; Hindoo, 105 ; medi- 
aeval, 414 ; Persian, 97, 104 ; Phoenician, 
77 ; Roman, 282, 310 ; Sarficen, 331 ; 16th 
century, 467 ; 17th century, 514 ; 18th 
century, 555 ; 19th century, 561. 

Ar'yan race, 10-13, 51, 88, 89, 105, 114, 204. 

Asca'nius, son of ^neas, 205. 

As'tham, Roger, 467, 472. 

Aspa'sia, 167. 

As'pern, battle of, 566. 

Assemblies, Congregation of Israel, 86; 
French, 359, 540-542, 581; Gemian, 823; 
Greek, 116, 194; Roman, 208, 212, 215 
(see Comitia) ; the Witenagemot, 347. 

Asshur, Assyrian god, 62 ; emblem of, 98. 

Asshurban'ipal, 49, 54, 67, 69, 70. 

Asshur- e-raed'i-lin (Saracus), 47, 50, 55. 

Asshur-i'zir-pal, 48. 

Assyria, 17, 46-70, 88, 89. 

Astar'te (Ash'ta-rOth), 79. 

Astrologers, 52, 56, 288, 290. 

Asty'age?, 88. 

Athe'na, 180, 181, 184, 187, 194. 

Atlionian art, 123, 181-183 ; constitution 
(of Solon), 122 ; democracy, 119, 124, 139, 
159 ; education, 178 ; homes, 195 ; kings, 
121; literature, 123. 161-172; Panath- 
enaic procession, 187 ; respect for 
Pericles, 140, 141; schools closed, 157; 
schools of philosophy, 175-177 ; senate, 
123; supremacy, 134; symposia, 197- 
199 ; theaters, 170, 187-189 ; tyrants, 123. 

Athenians, the, 134, 137, 138, 159, 170, 179, 
194, 197, 201. 

Athens, 119, 121-140, 144, 146, 157, 158, 194, 

At'talus, 237. 

Attic wit, 199. 

At'tica, 121, 124, 143, 176. 

At'tila, 267, 268, 393, 405. 

Auerstadt (ow'er-stat), battle of, 564. 

Augsburg, confession of, 442 ; diet at, 441. 

Augurs, Roman, 205, 208, 251, 293. 

Augustan age, the, 256, 310, 553. 

Augus'tulus R5m'ulus, 269. 

Augustus Caesar, 252-258, 296, 298. 

Augustus the Strong, 523. 

Aulic Council, 387. 

Aurelian, 263. 

Aus'terlitz, battle of, 563. 

Austria, 374, 384, 531, 588, 590-593. 

Austrian Succession, war of the, 527. 

Aiistro-Hungary, 592. 

Av'entine Hill, 205, 208, 209, 214, 217. 

Avignon (a-veen-yon'), 360. 

Azof, capture of, 521. 

Aztecs, the, 427. 

Ba'al, 78. 

Baalbec (bal-b6k'), 75, 281. 

Babel, Tower of, 55. 

Ba'ber, 406. 

Babylon, 46, 50, 51, 58, 89. 

Babylonian art, 55 ; curious customs, fi3 ; 
empire, 45, 46, 50 ; literature, 54, 55, 71 ; 
relision, 61 ; scene, 63 ; writing, 52. 

Bac'cinis (Diony'sus), 185, 187. 

Bacon, Lord, 468, 513. 

Bacon, Roger, 413, 424. 

Bac'tria, 10, 93. 

Badajoz (bad-a-hos'), capture of, 568. 

Bad'en, 326, 592. 



INDEX. 



XXVll 



Bagdad', 330 ; capture of, by Turks, 400. 

Bljaz5t' ravages Grcecf, 407. 

BVIaklava, b ittle of, 5SG. 

Baldwin, Kiiv^ <>l" Jerusalem, 3'.)?. 

BVli-ul, .loliii, Kin;r of Scotland, 345. 

Ban'nockburn, battle of, 345. 

Banquets, Reform, 576. 

BarliarOs'sa, .Vlgerine pirate, 437. 

Barbaro.ss.i, Fredeiick, 380, 400. 

Bar ueveld, John of, 44!). 

Barras (b:i-ra'). Gen., 546. 

Barrd (bii-nV), Col., 53(>. 

Barri (ini-re), Couites^e du, 537. 

Basilicas, Roman, 281. 

Basle (l.al), 476, 478 ; Council of, 302. 

Bissano, battle of, 540. 

Bastile (Ims-t^-'er), storming of the, 540. 

Bata'viau Republic, 545. 

Bautzen (bowt'sen), battle of, 570. 

Bava'ria, 485, 592. 

Baxter, Richard, 513. 

Bayard (ba'ilrd). Chevalier, 431, 432, 434. 

Bazaine (ba-zan'). Marshal, 580. 

Beauhariiais (bo-iir-na'), Mrae. de, 547. 

Beauharnais, Eusrene do, 547, 562. 

Beaumont (bo'in5nt), Francis, 513. 

Becket, Thomas ti, 343. 

Bede, the Venerable, 349. 

Bedford, Duke of, 367, 368. 

Beirgars, 439, 446, 448, 47.^, 476-478, 491. 

Behls'tun Inscription, 53, 90. 

Belgium, 445, 543, 550, 500. 

Belisa'rins, 320. 

Belshazzar, 51. 

Benedictine monks, 390. 

Benev6n'to, 563. 

Benevolences, 455. 

Beni Hassan, tombs of, 40. 

Berengar, Prince, 375. . 

Berlin Decrees, 565 ; treaty, 597. 

Bernadotte', French marshal, 563. 

Ber'nard, Duke of Weimar, 483, 484. 

Bero'sus, 46. 

Bethho'ron, Joshua at, 82. 

Bias. See Seven Sajes. 

Bible, the, 85, 154, 226, 425, 440, 459, 501, 

507, 523. 
Bi§'marck, Otto von, 590. 
Black Death, the, 362. 
Black Hole of Calcutta, 534. 
Black Prince, tlie, 362-364. 
Blake, Admiral Rol)ert, 504. 
Blenheim (blgn'Im), ])attle of, 493. 
Bliiclier (bloo'ker). Marshal von, 572. 
B e 6'tian League, 139, 147. 
Bolie'mia, 386, 480, 485, 528. 
BVbeniond, 398. 
B )ileau (bwji-lo'), 51.3. 
Boleyn (Bool'in), Anne, 457, 460. 
Bonapartists, the, 576. 
Boniface VIII., Pope, 3.59. 
Book of the Dead, Egyptian, 24. 
Bordeaux (bor-do), 543. 
Borodino (hor o tlee'no), battle of, 568. 
Borsip'pa, Temple of Nebo at, 55. 
Bossuet (bos-sii-a'), 51.3. 
Bo^'wortli, battle of, 346. 
Both' well. Earl of, 463. 
Boulogne (boo-lon'), 562. 
Bourbon, Duke of, 434, 435. 



Bourbon, House of, 355, 451-454, 543, 571, 

574, .S78. 
Bourgeoisie (boorzhwii-ze'). the, .359. 
Bon vines (i»oo-veen'), battle of, 358. 
Bt)yne, battle of the, 511. 
Brahma and the Brahman.s, 10.5-107. 
Brandenburg (Bran'den-boorg), 38(i, 520. 
Breu luis, Gallic leader, 150. 
Breslau (brCs low), 477. 
Bretigny (bra-teen-yee"), 364. 
Brienne (l)re-On'), French minister, 538. 
Bri-ht, John, .585. 
Britain, 240, 337, 338, .347. 
British Eini)ire, 587; musiiim, .52, .55, 60, 181. 
Brunswick, House of. See Ilanovei: 
Brutinm, 203, 233. 
Brutus, L. Junius, 211, 212. 
Brutns, M. Junius, 251-253. 
l?ul)as'tis, 26. 

Buddha (hood'dii), 107, 111. 
Bunyan, John, 51.3. 
Buonaparte, Jerome, 563. 
Buonaparte, Joseph, 563, 566, 568. 
Buonaparte, Louis, 563. 
Buonaparte, Napoleon. See Napoleon I. 
Burghers, the, 374. 

Burgundians, in France, 366; in Gaul, 318. 
Burgundy, Duke of, 366, 369. 
Burial customs, 32-35, 43, 63, 65, 71, 99, 

104, 190, 191, 294, 307. 
Burke, Edmund, 554. 
Burleigh, Lord, 462, 515. 
Burns, Robert, 553. 
Butler, Samuel, 513. 
Bvron, Lord. 555. 

Byzantine Empire, the, 266, 269, 319, 407. 
Cab'ots, the, 427. 
Ciibral' takes Brazil, 427. 
Cade, Jack, insurrection of, 368. 
Cajsalpi'nus, 468. 

Cajsar, Caius (ka'yus). See Caligula. 
Ca;sar, Julius, 248-252, 280, 298, 302, 324. 
Cairo (ki'ro), 21, 551. 
Calais (ka-hV), capture of, 361, 444. 
Calendar, 155, 222, 250, 251, 544, 561. 
Calends, Ides, and Nones, 251. 
Calig'ula, 259, 303. 
Caliphs, the, 327, 330, 399. 
Calllm'aehus, 181. 
Calli'o-pe. See Muftes. 
Calonne (ka-15n'), 538. 
Calpui-'nia, 251. 
Calvin, John, 441. 
Calvinists, the, 444. 
Calydo'nian Boar, Hunt of the, 116. 
Caml)rai (k6n-bra'), 432. 
Cambv'se?, King of Persia, 15, 90. 
Camillus, 221-223. 
Campbell, Colin (Lord Clyde), 587. 
Canipo Kormio, .550. 
Campus Mar'tius, 222, 299, 301, 308. 
Can'na;, battle of, 232. 
Cannon, first used, 424. 
Cantons, tlie Eight Swiss, 389. 
Canule'ian Decree, 218. 
Canute', 339. 

Capet (ka'pCt), Hugh, 356. 
Capetian Kings, 356. 
Capitoline Hill, 206, 208, 209, 222, 296, 307; 

museum, 183. 



XXVIU 



INDEX. 



Cappadocia, 400. 

Capua, 203, 233. 

Caracal'la, or Caracallns, 262, 285. 

Carbonuri (Iv.-lr-bo-iia're), the, 593. 

Caicheinish (kai''kee-niish), 87. 

Carloviii'gian kings, ;-i32, 3J6. 

Cai'oline, Queen of England, ■'jSS. 

Carthage, 73, 76, 227-235, 244, 250, 209, 320. 

Carthaginians, the, 133, 227-235. 

Cartier (kar-t.va'), 427. 

Cassius (liasli'e-us), Cains Longi'nus, 251- 

253. 
Cassius, Spurius, 216. 
Castes, Chaldean, 52; Hindoo, 10.5. 
Castiglione (kas-tel-yo'na), battle of, 549. 
Castile (kas-teel'), 404. 
Castillon (kas-tee-yon'), battle of, 369. 
Castles, mcdicToval, 409. 
Castor and Pollux, 213, 296. 
Cateau-Cambresis (ka - to'- k5n - l)ra - zee'), 

444, 450. 

Catharine of Aragon, 457. 

Catharine of Austria, 452. 

Catharine the Great of Russia, 525. 

Cathedrals, art in, 415, 446, 575 ; Cologne, 
415 ; Jerusalem, 320 ; Notre Dame, Paris, 
492; Pisa, 468; sacked in Netherlands, 

445, 446; St. Mark's, Venice, 575; St. 
Paul's, London, 515 ; St. Peter's. London, 
S40 ; St. Peter's, Rome, 333, 575 ; 11th 
century, 445, 446. 

Catiline's Conspiracy, 247, 275. 

Cato the Censor, 235, 274, 289. 

Cato the Stoic, 248, 250. 

Cauca'sian race, the, 10. 

Caudine Forks, battle of, 223. 

Cavaliers, the, 500. 

Cavendish, Henry, English chemist, 555. 

Cavour (ka-voor'), Count, 594. 

Cawnpore', 587. 

CgQ'il, Sir William (Lord Burleigh), 462. 

Ce'crops, 121. 

Cellini (chel-lee'nee), Benveiiu'to, 467. 

Cel'sius, Anders, Swedish astronomer, 555. 

Celts, the, 12, 337, 338. 

Censors, Roman, 218, 256, 271. See Cato. 

Centuries. See Assemblies. 

Cerami'ciis, the, 140, 177. 

Cer'berus, 184. 

Ce're?. See Demeter. 

Cerisolles (-sol'), 438. 

Cesno'la, Luigi Palma di, 77, 87. 

Chairone'a, battle of, 149. 

Chalde'a. See Babylon. 

Chalons (sha-lon'), battle of, 268. 

Chaml)ord (shOn-bor'), Comtc de, 576. 

ChampoUion (shani-p6re-on), Francois, 22. 

Chapman, George, English poet, 468. 

Charlemagne (shar'le-man), 330, 332, 333, 

335, 336, 349, 417. 
Charles I. of England, 498-.50S. 
Charles IL, 503, '506, 508-510, 514. 
Charles I. (the Bald) of France, 335, 
Charles III. (the Simple), 3,54. 
Charles IV. (the Handsome), 355. 
Charles V. (the Wise), 355, 365. 
Charles VI. (the Well-beloved\ 355. 365. 
Charles VII. (the Victoiions). 355, .S67-.S69. 
Charles VIIL (the Affable), 355, 369,430. 
Charle? IX., 450-453. 



Charles X., 575. 

Charles Albert of Sardinia, 592. 

Charles of Anjou, King of the Sicilies, 395. 

Charles of Austria, 49;<, 494. 

Charles the Bad, of Jsavarre, 362. 

Charles the Bold, of Burgundy, 369, 433. 

Charles of Valois, 360. 

Charles IV. of Germany, 3S5. 

Charles V., 428, 433, 435, 439, 442-444. 

Charles VI., 493, 494. 

Charles IL of Spain, 493. ' 

Charles XIL of Sweden, 523-525. 

Chartists, the, 584. 

Chatham (chiit'ani), Earl of. See Pitt. 

Chau'Qei', Geohrey, 414, 467. 

Che Hwang-te, 109. 

Chemistry, development of, 555. 

Cheops (ke'ops), 16, 36, 37. 

Childeric (chllder-ik), 382. 

Chilo (kilo). See Seven Sages. 

China, 109-112, 602. 

Chios (ki'5s), 139. 

Chivalry, 410-412, 439. 

Chonlgic Monument, 181, 194. 

Chora'gus, Greek, 188. 

Christ, 257. 259, 310. 

Christian IV. of Denmark. 480. 

Christian Church, the, 265, 320, 321, 331, ,S32, 
358, 386, 390-392, 403, 439, 450, 458, 478, 
479, 601 (see Papal Poiver) ; Fathers, 155, 
321. 

Christianity, 263, 265, 319, 330, 331, 339. 

Christians, the, 260, 262-264, 437. 

Christina (kris-tee'na) of Sweden, 484, 

Church of England, 4.58, 460, 462; in Ire- 
land, 584, 588; in Scotland, 499; re- 
stored after Cromwell, 506. 

Cicero, 157,236, 247, 248, 253, 274, 296, 303, 
310. 

Cimbri, 242, 244. 

Ci'mon, 136, 141. 

Cinciuna'tus, 220. 

Cin'eas, ambassador to Rome, 225. 

Cinna, 244. 

Circus Flaniinius, 299. 

Circus Maximus, 208, 297. 

Cisal'pine Gaul, 204. 

Cities, Christianized, 263; free, 883, 392. 

Civilization, Anglo-Saxon, 347; Arabian, 
330; Aryan, 12; Assyrian and Babylo- 
nian, 51,71 ; Chinese, 110 ; Court of Char- 
lemagne, 335 ; Court of Louis XIV., 515 ; 
Egvi)tian, 19, 43; Elizabethan age, 468; 
Gallic, .371 ; Greek, 119, 158, 201 ; He- 
brew, 85; Hindoo, 105; medifcval, 383, 
408, 474; Persian, 92, 103; Phoenician, 
77; Roman, 270, ;-:09; Teutonic, 322, S25; 
16th ccntur.v, 467; 17th cuitury, 513; 
18tb century, 538, 544, 553. 

Clan, the Celtic, 372. 

Clau'dius, Emperor. 263. 

Cleis'thene?, or Clis thene?, 124. 

Clement v.. Pope, 360. 

Clement VIL, 457. 

Cleobu'lus. See Seven Sages. 

Cle'on, 141, 170,172. 

Cleopa'tra. 155, 249, 253, 254, 285, 303. 

Client.*, Roman, 207, 213, 270, 298. 

Cli'o. See Muses. 

Clive (kliv), Robert, 534. 



INDEX. 



XXIX 



Cloa'ca, Roman, 20& 

Cloe'lia, 21.S. 

Clo'vis, 318, 331. 

Clyde, Lord. Set- Campbell. 

Ciiidiis (nidus), 146, 181, 183. 

COb'den, Riiliaid, 5!S5. 

Co cle^, Horatiiis, 212. 

Code, Buddhist, 107, 108; Draco's, 121, 
122; Laws of the Twelve Tal>les, 217, 
280 ; Mosaic, 85, 86 ; Napoleonic, 561 ; 
Servian Constitution, 212; Solim's Con- 
stitution, 122, 123 ; Tribonian, 320 ; Z.>ro- 
astriau, 93. 

Co'drus, 121, 176. 

CiB'lian Hill, 207. 

Colbert (cOl-ber), French minister, 489, 
492. 

Coleridge (kolrlj), Samuel Taylor, 555. 

Coligny (ko-leenye), Admiral ile, 451-i53. 

CoUati'nus, liusband of Lucretia, 211. 

Colleges. See Jniversities and Education. 

Cologne (ko-lou ), 326, 415. 

Colonna, the Italian, ;i96. 

Colosse um, tlie, 260, 284, 292, 396. 

Columbus, Christ(jpber, 387, 423, 427. 

Comitia Centuriata, 212, 2i5. 

Comitia Curiata, 208, 215, 

Comitia Tributa, 215. 

Commerce, Assyrian and Babylonian, 59, 
60; Chinese, ilO ; English, early, 348; 
Greek, 118, 154, 159, 200; Hebrew, 8j; 
Hindoo, 105; Italian, 392, 394; mediae- 
val, 326, 348, 394 ; Persian, 92, 97 ; Phoe- 
nician, 73-77, 118; Roman, 298, 305; 
15th century, 424 ; 16th century, 456, 
465, 467; 17th century, 489; 18th cen- 
tury, 538, 555 ; 19th century, 651. 

Com'modus, 261. 

Connnons, House of, 344, 503, 504, 512, 584, 
587. 

Commonwealth, English, 503 ; Helnew, 85. 

Communes, French, 581 ; medijieval, 358. 

Cond6 (kon-da), Louis I. de, 451, 452. 

Cond^, Louis II. de, 485, 48S, 491. 

Confederations, 134, 206, 32.5, 387, 448, 563, 
588, 591. 

Confucius (kon-fu'she-us), 111. 

Co'non, Greek admiral, 146. 

Conrad L, 373. 

Conrad IL, 375,376. 

Conrad III., 379, 380, 400. 

Conrad IV. , 381. 

Con'radin, last of the Hohenstaufen race, 
380. 

Conservatives, the English, 500, 587. 

Constance, Councils of. See Councils. 

Con'stantine the Great, 264, 265. 

Constantine ("Last of the Cjcsars"), 407. 

Constantinople, 181, 26.'-, 266, 269, 328, 401, 
407. 

Consulship. Roman, 213, 218, 256, 265, 307. 

Continental System of Napoleon I., .565. 

Copenhagen, 523. 

Copernicus, 424, 468. 

Corcy'ra, 1.39. 

Corday', Chailotte, 544. 

Cordeliers', the, 542. 

Cordova, 330. 

Corinth, 117, 236, 237, 250. 

Corinthian capital, 181, 182, 281. 



Corionl'nus (Caius Marcius), 219. 

Corn Laws, 583. 

Cornelia, 241. 

CorjM»ration3 and Guilds. See Guilds. 

Correggio (IcorGdjo), 467. 

Cor'tes, 428. 

Councils, Amphictyonic, 115, 149; Aulic, 
387; Clermont, 398; Constance, 385; 
Constantinople, 418 ; Cortes, 404 ; eccle- 
siastical, 265, 392; of Elder.s, 116; of 
Nice, 265; of State, 553 ; of Trent, 442. 

Courcelles (koor-sOl'), battle of, 580. 

C'ovenant, Scoti h, 499, 503. 

Covenanter.s, 503, 507. 

Cowper, William, 553. 

("ranrner, Thomas, 457-461; 

Ciassus, 245-249. 

Cr6cy (krfis'sl), battle of, 361. 

Crespy, 438, 442, 4.^0. 

Crlme'a, 525. 

Crimean war, the, 579, .")86. 

CrcEsns (kree'sus), 89. 

Cnmiwell, Oliver, 501-505. 

Ciomwell, Richard, 506. 

Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex, 458, 4C0. 

Crusaders sack Jerusalem, 399. 

Crusades, 397-40.'5, 414, 419. 

Cumai'an sibyl, •10'^. 

Cunaxa, battle of, 145. 

Cuneiform writing, 53, G.'>, 92. 

Curatii, 207. 

Cu're§, 206. 

Cu'riaj, Roman, 211, 270. 

Cu'rie§. See Assemblies. 

Cur'ti-us, Mettius, 206. 

Cuvier (kii-ve-Jt), 555. 

Cyax'are?, 50, 88. 

Cy clops, 114. 

Cy Ion, 123. 

Cyn'ics the, 177. 

Cynosar'ges, the, 194. 

Cynosc 'ph'alaj, battle of, 236. 

Cyprus, Di Cesnola at, 77, 87 ; settlement 
of, 73. 

Cyrus the Great, 51, 84, 88, 89, 125. 

Cyrus the Younger, 145, 172. 

Czars, Russian, origin of title, 520. 

Dacians, the, 261. 

D'Alembert (dii-lOn-ber'), 554. 

Damascus, 49, 400. 

Danes, 339, 354. 

Daniel, 84. 

Dan'te, 414. 

Danton(dan'tf)n), 540, 544. 

Dardanelles (dar-djVnelz'), 115. 

Darius (da-ri us) L, 91, 125, 126, 129. 

Darius III., 151. 

Dark ages, the, 316. 

Darnlev, Lord, 463. 

Dauphin, the, 362, ; 01. 

David, Hebrew king. 83. 

De'bir, 77. 

Deborah, 82. 

Decem'virs, the, 216, 217. 

De'cius, 262. 

De Foe, Daniel, 553. 

Delhi, massacre at, 587. 

Delos, 134. 

Delphi, temple at, 115, 124, 186. 

Demagogues, 141, 143, 170. 



INDEX, 



Deme'ter, 184. 

Dem5s'theiie§, 149, 173. 

Denmark, 481, 523. 

Denta'tus, 225. 

Derby, Lord, 587. 

Desaix (da-sa'), 559. 

Descartes (da-kiirt), 513. 

De Soto, 427. 

Dettingen (det'tino-en), battle of, 529. 

Dia'na. See Artiiids. 

Diaz (dee'as), Bartliolonieu, 426. 

Dictatorship, Roman, 213, 219, 245, 246, 
250, 307. 

Diderot (de-dro), writings of, 539, 554. 

Dido founds Carthage, 76. 

Diocle'tian, 263, 264. 

Diodo'rus Sic'ulus, 15. 

Di5g'ene§, 177. 

Diony sus, god of wine, 185, 187. 

Directory, French, 546. 

Disraeli (diz-ra'lee), Benjamin, 587. 

Dodo'na, temple of Zeus at, 1S5. 

Doge, the, of Venice, 393. 

Dol'lond, John, 555. 

Domitian, Eoman Emperor, 261. 

Don Pedro the Cruel, 364. 

Doria, Andrea, Spanish admiral, 436. 

Dorians, migration of, 117, 119. 

Doric Colonies, 118. 

Dover, 508. 

Draco, Laws of, 121, 122. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 464, 465. 

Dresden, 477, 529, 570. 

Drusus, 256. 

Dryden, John, 513. 

Dudley, Lord Guilford, 461. 

Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 464, 466. 

Duels, 348. 

Dunbar, battle of, 503. 

Dunkirk, 504, 508. 

Duns Scotus, 413. 

Dii'rer, Albert, 476. 

Dutch Republi(;, rise of the, 445. 

Dutch war, the,' 508. 

East India Company, 449, 465. 

Edda, the, 414. 

Education, Assyrian and Babylonian, 55, 
71; Carlovingian, 336; Chinese, 111; 
Egyptian, 26, 44, 155; English, early, 
349 ; French, early, 369 ; German, early, 
319, 325 ; Greek, 137, 155, 157, 162, 163, 
178, 201; Hebrew, 86; mediajval, 318, 
381, 390, 413, 414 ; Persian, 94, 103 ; Phoe- 
nician, 77; Roman, 257, 280, 286, 318; 
Saracen, 330; 16th centnry, 467; 17tli 
ceiiturj-, 513 ; 18th century, 557 ; 19th 
century, 561, 583, 587. 

Edwar.l I. of England, 344, 345. 

Edward IIL, 360, 361. 

Edward IV., 340. 

Edward V., 340. 

Edward VI., 460. 

Edward the Con'fessor, 339. 

Egbert of England, 339. 

Egeria, the nymph, 207. 

Egypt, 15-44, 50, 151, 154, 254, 328, 551. 

E'hud, 82. 

Elba, 570. 

Eleanor, wife of Louis VII., 356, 400. 

Electors, German, 382, 385. 



Eleusin'ian Mysteries, 144, 165, 184. 

Eleusis, 16.5. 

Eltiin marbles, 181, 187. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 461-4fiu 

Elizabeth, wife of "Winter King," 480. 

Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, 530. 

Elizabethan age, 467-474. 

Embalming. See liuiial Customs. 

England, 337-353, 455-474, 494-513, 532- 
536, 583-588. 

En'nius, 273. 

Epaminon'das, 147, 148. 

Eph'esus, 117. 

Eph'ors, 120. 

Ep'ics, 25, 163, 273, 275. 

Epicui-e'ans, 177. 

Epicu'rus, 177. 

Epi'rus, 225. 

Equites (Ck'wi-teez), 213, 240. 

Eia§'mus, 469. 

Er'ato, 185. 

Eratos'thene§, 155. 

Erechthe'ium, 194. 

Esarhad'don, 49. 

Escu'rial, the, 444. 

Esquiline Hill, 277, 281, 298. 

Essex, Earl of, 466. 

Ethiopia conquered by Egypt, 17. 

Etruscans, the, 204, 206, 208, 211. 

Eu'cle§, 127. 

Eugene, Prince, 493. 

Eugenie (u-zha-nee'), Empress, 580. 

Eumenes (u'm6-neez), 23. 

Eumen'ide§ (Furies), the, 185. 

Euphra'te§, the, 13, 45, 50, 58. 

Eurip'ideg, 168, 275. 

Eurym'edon, battle of, 136. 

Euter'pe. See Ahises. 

Exig'uus, 10. 

Exodus of the Jews, 82. 

Eylau (i'low), battle of, 565. 

Fabii (fa'In-i), the, 218. 

Fa'bius, M., Roman dictator, 230, 232. 

Fabri'cius, 225. 

Famine, cotton, in England, 587 ; in Ath- 
ens, 145; in Canaan, 39; in Egypt, 39; 
in Germany, 485 ; in Haarlem, 446 ; in 
Ireland, 585 ; in Rome, 218, 220; in Rus- 
sia, 599. 

Fates, the three, 185. 

Fawkes, Guy, 496. 

Fayoom (fi-oom'), the, 32, 39, 162, 168, 19r 

Feme, the German, 383. 

F^nelon (fa-n6-16n), 513. 

Ferdinand I. of Germany, 436, 441, 444. 

Ferduiand IL, 444, 4i0-485. 

Ferdinand III., 48.5. 

Ferdinand of Spain. 404, 430, 443. 

Festivals, 30, 38, 62, 63, 92, 115, 150, 165, 
186, 201, 239, 290, 307, 322, 347, 473, 474, 
479. 

Feudal castles, 409 ; ceremonies, 409 ; levy 
abolished, 425 ; system, 323, 408. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 433. 

Fielding, Henry, 553. 

Fire, Great, in London, 507 ; in Moscow, 
,568 ; in Rome, 259. 

Fire-worship, 99. 

Flamin'ius, 236. 

Flanders, war of, 490. 



INDEX. 



XXXI 



Fleece, the Golden, 115. 

Fletcher, John, 513. 

Flen'iiis, battle of, 4'.>2. 

Flod.leii Field, battle of, 450. 

Florence, 3J4, 4:{0. 

FoMtaineltleau (fon-tan-lilo), 570. 

Fontenay (fon-te-nsi), battle of, :«4, 

Fontenoy (fou-te-iiwa), battle of 52!). 

Forno'vo, hattle of, 4oO. 

Forty- Years' War, the, 446. 

Forum, lloinan, 29(j, 2i)8, 29!) ; niomiments 

in, 282, 281; uses of, 2;J9, 281, aOO, 308. 
Fox, Charles, Pitt's rival, 5.')(). 
Fox. Georj^e, founder of Quakers, 505. 
France, .S:U-337, 354-373, 40^), 413, 416, 450- 

454, 486-494, 51.5, 53()-553, 559-582. 
Fraiiche Coint^ (fronsh' kon-ta'), 492. 
Franci', I. of Austria, 52!). 
Francis I. of France, 432-438. 
Francis II., 450, 451. 
Francis Joseph of Austria, 590, 592. 
Franconian dynasty, 375. 
Franco-Prussian War, 579. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 5.55. 
Franks, the, 318, 329-337. 
Frederick I. of Germany. See Barbarosisa. 
Frederick II., 381, 402. 
Frederick II. (Eleelor Palatine), 442. 
Frederick II. (the Great), 526, 527-531. 
Frederick V., 480. 

Frederick, Don, l)esi('ges Haarlem, 440. 
Frederick of Hohenzollern, 386. 
Frederick William (Great Elector), 526. 
Frederick William I. of Prussia, 526, 527. 
Frederick William IV., 526, 590. 
Fredericksliall, 525. 
Free Lances, the, 364. 
Freil)ur<,' (fri bo(ji-g>, battle of, 485, 488. 
Friedland (freeflant), battle of, 565. 
Friends, the, 505. 
Frobisher, Sir .Martin, 464, 405. 
Fronde and Frondeurs, 489. 
Fucinine, Lake, 282. 
Fugger (foog'cr), Anthony, 441. 
Fngirer, Ilerr Marcus, 476. 
Ful via, wife of Mark Antony, 253. 
Furies, the, 18.5. 
Ga bi-i, capture of, 211. 
Ga'de? (Cadiz), 73, 230. 
Gala'tia, 1.56. 
Galileo, 468, 514. 

Galleys, Greek and Rftman, 192, 224. 
Gallus, Roman Emperor, 262. 
Galvani (g,il-va nee), 555. 
Games and six.rts, 38, 67, 186, 197, 250, 285, 

290, 310, 324, 351, 412, 473. 
Garibaldi (gilr-I-bAVdl), .594, 595. 
Gauls, the, 220, 232, 250, 264, 332, 371, 372. 
Ged'dfis, Jenny, 507. 
Geneva, Reformers at, 441. 
Genghis Khan (jen'gls kiin), 109, 403. 
Gen'oa, 392, 492. 
Genseric (jen'sGr-ik), 269. 
George I. of Enuland, 532. 
George II., 529, 533. 
George II L, 535. 
George IV., 583. 
German migrations, 266-269. 
Germanic Confederation, 588. 
Gei-man'icus, 256. 



Germany, 322, 335, 373. 375 379-387, 474- 

478, 486, 526-532, 588-592. 
Gesner, Konrad von. Swiss naturalist, 468. 
Ghent, Pacilication <.f, 448. 
GhiiielJines (g:b'OI Imz), the. 379, 396. 
Gibbon, Edward, historian, 554. 
Giltraltar (ji bral tar), 494. 
G id' eon, 82. 

(iirondi.sts(jt rftn'dlsts), the, 542, 544. 
Gizeii (geze), 16, 18, .S.5. 
Gladiatorial games, 291; war, 245. 
Gladstone, William E., 587. 
Glass, 28, 44, 59, 71, 78, 302. 
Godfrey, Duke of Bouillon, 398, 399. 
Goethe (ge'tCli), Wolfgang von, 554. 
Golden Bull, the, 385. 
G")nsarvo de Cor'dova, 431. 
Good Hoi)e, Cape of, 19 426. 
Gordon, Charles G., English general, 587. 
Goigey (ger'gCh-e), Hungarian traitor, 591. 
Gorgons, the, 185. 
Gotlis, the, 262, 203, 206. 
Grac'thi, the, 241. 
Gractlms, Caius, 241. 
Gracchus, Tiberius, 241. 
Graces, the three, 185. 
Grjina'da, con<iucst of, 405, 423. 
Grand Alliance, 492. 
Grani'cus, battle of, 151. 
Granson, battle of, 370. 
Grattan', Hemy, Irish orator, 584. 
Gravelotte(grav-l5t), battle of, 580. 
Gray, Thomas, Engl sh poet, 5.'.3. 
Great Britain, kingdom formed. 513. 
Greece, 113-203, 597. See Athens and 

Sparta. 
Greek tire, 328. 

Gregory I. (the Great\ Pope, .321. 
Gregory VIL, Pope, 376. 
Greno ble, 571. 

Grdvy (grave), Francjois, 5S2. 
Grev, Lady Jane, 461, 472. 
Grouchy (groo she'), French general, 572, 

573. 
Guelfs and Ghi])ellinrs, 379, 396. 
Guesclin (ga-klftn), Bertrand du, 365. 
Gnido Reni (gwee'do ra nee), 467. 
Guilds, 41.5. 
Guillotine, 543. 
Guinegate, liattle of, 432. 
Guiscard (ges-kar), Robert, 398. 
Guise (gweez), Francis, Duke of, 443, 444, 

450, 452. 
Guise, Henry of, 452, 453. 
Gunpowder, 111, 413, 424. 
Gunpowder Plot, 4i)6. 
Gustavus Adolphus, 482, 48.3. 
Gutenlxrg (gooten-bCrg), 42.5. 
Gylippus (ji-lip'us). Spartan general, 

144. 
Haarlem, siege of, 416. 
Habeas Corpus Act, 509. 
Ha'des. 184. 

Ha'drlan, Rcmian emperor, 261. 
Hallcarnas'sus, 183, appendix i. 
Hidley, Ednmnd, astronomer, 514. 
Ha'lys, the river, 83. 
Hamburg, 565. 

Hamil'car, father of Hannibal, 133, 230. 
Haniit'ic race, 10, 13. 



xxxu 



INDEX. 



Hampden, John, 499. 

Haiuiihal, 230-235, 237. 

Hanover, House of, 494, 513, 532. 

Hanseatic League, 384. 

Hapsbiirg, House of. See Austria. 

Hargreaves, James, 556. 

Harold, King of Eiigl;.nd, 340. 

Haroun al Kascliid (lia-ruou' al-rash'id), 

330, 332. 
Harpies, tlie, 185. 

Harvey, William, English physician, 514. 
Has'drubal, 233, 234. 
Hastings, battle of, 340. 
Hav'elock, Sir Henry, 587. 
Havre (ha'ver), 490. 
Hawkins, Sir John, 464, 4G5. 
Haynau (hi'novv), the " Hangman," 590. 
Hebe, 185. 

Hebrews, the, 18, 80-87, 343, 599. 
Hector, son of Priam, 116. 
Hegel (ha'gei), German philosopher, 554. 
Hegi'ra, the, 326. 
Helen, wife of Menela'us, 116. 
Hel'las and the Helle'nes, 114, 115, 117. 
Hellespont, Alexander crosses the, 151. 
H^loise (a-lo-eez'), 413. 
He'lots, Spartan, 119, 136, 160, 161. 
Helve'tius, French philosophei-, 5:- '. 
Hengist (hgng'cist), 338. 
Henry T., of England, 340, 341. 
Henry II.. 340-343. 
Henry III., 340, 343. 
Henry IV.. 340, 866. 
Henry V., 340, 366, 367. 
Henry YI., 340, 367-369. 
Henry VII., 455, 456. 
Henry VIII., 433, 455-460. 
Henry I., of France, 355. 
Henry 11. , 443, 450. 
Henry III., 450, 453, 454. 
Henry IV. (JSTavarre), 452-454. 
Henry I., of Germany, 374. 
Henry II., 374. 
Henry III., 375, 376. 
Henry IV., 375, 376, 377. 
Henry v., 375, 377-379. 
Henry VI., 380, 401. 
Hephees'tus, 184. 
Hera, 184, 189. 

Heraclei'dse, return of the, 117. 
Hercula'neum destroyed, 261. 
Her'culeg, Twelve Labors of, 115. 
Her'n)e§, 143, 184, 196. 
He'ro, Greek mathematician, 155. 
HerOd'olus, 15, 110, 167, 171, 192. 
Herschel (her'shei). Sir Williau), 55.'. 
Hesiod (hee'-si-od), 163, 
Hes'tia, 184, 196, 310. 
Hi'ero, King of Syracuse, 2~7, 
Hieroglyphic?, Egyptian, •_ _. 
High Commission Courts, En<;lisli, 499. 
Hildebrand. See Gregory VII. 
Hill, Rowland, 585. 
Hills, plan of Roman, 210, 299. 
Hini'era, battle of, 133. 
Hindoos, the, 105-108. 
Hippar'€hns, 123, 155. 
Hip'piaa, 123. 
Hippoc'rate§, 174. 
Hiram, King of Tyre, 78. 



Hit'tites, the, 86. 

Hoche (osh), French general, 545. 

Hohenlinden (ho-Sn-lhi'den), battle of, 

559. 
Hohenstaufen (ho-6n-stow'fen) line, 379. 
Hohenzollern (lio-6i>-ts6r6rn), 386. 
Holbein (hol'bin), Hans, 515. 
Holland, 445, 491, 503, f 98. 
Holstein (hol'stin), 591. 
Holy Alliance, the, 588. 
Holy League, the, 432. 
Holy Roman Empire, the, 375, 390, 4S6, 

531, 588. 
Homer, 116, 151, 162, 189, 192. 
Homes and home life, Anglo-Saxon, 350 ; 

Athenian, 195; Chaldean, 63 ; Egyptian, 

38, 40 ; English, 468 ; French, 538, 539 ; 

Gallic, 372; German, 474-476; German, 

early, 322 ; mediseval, 411, 416 ; Roman, 

302 ; Spartan, 193. 
Hono'rius, Roman emperor, 267. 
Hookei', Richard, English anthor, 468. 
Horace, Roman poet, 276, 310, 325. 
Horatian Decree, 218. 
Horatii and Curatii, 2C7. 
Horn, Count, Swedish general, 484. 
Horns, Egyptian god, 30, 31. 
Hos'pitallers, the, 399, 436. 
Howard, Catharine, Queen of England, 460. 
Howard, John, philanthropist, {,56. 
Hubertsburg, Treaty of, 530. 
Huguenots, the, 450-454, 490. 
Hume, David, English historian, 554. 
Hundred- Years' AVar, 360-369. 
Hungary, 374. 
Huns, the, 109, "265, 374. 
Hnss, John, 386. 
Hussite war, 3fc6. 
Hyksos, 17. 
Hypatia, 177. 
Hystas'pe^, Darius, 5S. 
Iliad, Homer's, 116, 151, 162. 
Iliad, the Egyptian, 26. 
Immortals, the Persian, 129, 130. 
Incas, the, 428. 
Independents, the, 462, 501. 
India, 105-108, 152, 406. 
Indian Mutiny, 586. 
Indo-European. See Aryan. 
Inkerman', battle of, 586. 
Innocent III., Pope, 358, 391. 
Inquisition, the, 446, 450. 
Inscriptions, famous, 18, 22, 53, 90, 259, 544. 
Institutes of Vishnu and Gautama, 108. 
Interregnum, tlie Great, 381. 
Inventions, ^eti Arts and Inventions. 
Investiture, 409 ; war of, 376, 377. 
lonians, the, 117, 118, 119, 139. 
Ionic colonies, 117, 144. 
Ipsus, battle of, 153. 
Iran or Aria, 10. 
Ireland, 344, 511, 584, 587, f88. 
Ireton, Henry, English general, 502. 
Isabella of Castile, 404. 
Israel, kingd(tm of, 82-84. 
Issus, battle of, 151. 
Isthmian games, 186. Sec Games. 
Italian Renaissance, 395 ; war, 593. 
Italy, 203-312, 320, 332, 390-397, 430-436, 

592-596. 



INDEX. 



XXXlll 



Ivan the Great, 520. 

Ivan the Terrible, 520. 

Ivry (cv-re), battle of, 451. 

Jac obhH, the, 540, :)42. 

Jac ubite^, i)lots of tho, 511. 

Jacquerie (zlnik-rO'), :i(i4, 540. 

James I. of England, 494-497. 

James If., 510. 

James IV. of Scotland, 45G. 

James VI., 4G3. 

Jani<!ulum, 212, 298. 

Janizaries, 400. 

Janus, Temple of, 207, 287, 288. 

Japan, 598. 

Jason, 115, 169, 

Jeanne d'Arc, 367, 368. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 540. 

Jehu, 48. 

Jemmapes (zha-m-ip'), battle of, 543. 

Jena (ya'ua), battle of, 5G4. 

Jericho, capture of, 8_'. 

Jerome. See Christian Ftth'us. 

Jerusalem, 50, 83, 81, 83, 327, 400, 40G. 

Jesuit Order, 478 

Jews, the. See He'yewi. 

John of BarneveM, 449. 

John, King of Riiglan 1, 34'\ 

John (the Good), King of France, 3G2, 364. 

John 11. of Portugal, 426. 

Johnson, Samuel, 553. 

Jonson, Ben, 46S, 513. 

Jordan River, 81, 82. 

Joseph, 80. * 

Josephine, wife of Xapoleon, 547, 562, 567. 

Josliua, 82. 

Joubert (zhoo-ber'), French general, 550. 

Jounlan (zhoor-df^n), French general, 545. 

Journalism established, 553. 

Jove. See Zens. 

Judah, kingdom of, 84. 

Judea, 80-8G. 

Judges, the, 82. 

Jugur'tha, 212-244. 

Juliau, the Apostate, 265. 

Juno. See Ilera. 

Junot (zhii-no'), Marshal of France, 565. 

Jupiter. See Zeus. 

Justinian, 319, 320. 

Ju'venal, 278. 

Ka, the Egyptian, 24, 38. 

Kant, Immanuel, 554. 

Kar'nak, Great Temple of, 9, 17, 26. 

Kaunitz (kow'nits), 529. 

Kt'llermaii. Duke de, 559. 

Kepler, German astionomer, 514,568. 

Kbadija'i (ka dee'ja), 326. 

Khu-en-A'ten, King of Egypt, 17. 

Kh I'fu. See Cheops. 

Klop'stock, German poet, 554. 

Knight, tlie mediajval, 410, 416, 425. 

Knights Hospitallers and Templars, .360, 

399 
Knights of St. John, 426. 
Knox, John, Siotcli reformer, 463. 
Kolin, battle of. 530. 
Koran, t>ie, 327. 
Koscias'ko, Polish patriot, 525. 
Kossuth (kosh'oot), 590. 
Kshatriyas (kshVtre-yas\ 105. 
Ku'nersdorf, battle of, 530. 



Labyrinth, Egyptian, 17, 39, 65. 

Lacedaj'mon, 119, 132, 146. 

Laconia, 121, 158, 160. 

Ladies' Peace, the, 436, 441. 

La Fayette. Marquis de, 575. 

La Fontaine', 513. 

Lamarck', French natnralist, 5.55. 

Lancaster, House of, 340. 

Laplace (la-plas), 555. 

La're? and Peua'te§, 289, 310. 

Las Casas (las ka'sas), 429. 

Latimer, Hugh, 460. 

Latin League, 205, 213, 216, 224. 

Latium, 206. 

Laud (lawd), Archbishop, 498, 507. 

La \cndee (la vOn-da ), 543, 545. 

Law, John, 5.S0. 

Lawfelt, battle of, 529, 

Lay'ard, Austen Henry, 55. 

Legnano(iA;i-yH'no*, battle of, 380. 

Leibnitz (lip'nlts), Baron von, 514. 

Leicester (16s'ter), Earl of, 464, 46(i. 

Leignitz (lig'nlts), battle of, .530. 

Leipsic (lip'slk), battles of, 483, 570. 

Lens, battle of, 485, 488, 

Leo I., Pope, saves Rome, 269. 

Leo X., sketch of, 394. 

Leon'itlas at Thennopyla;, 129. 

Leonidas of Tarentum, 171. 

Leopold, Duke of Aiistria, 388. 

Leopold, German emperor, 493. 

Lepanto, battle of, 596. 

Lep'idus, 253. 

Lessing, Gotthold, 486, 554. 

Leuc'tra, battle of, 147. 

Leuthen (loi'ten), battle of, 530. 

Levant', 162, 426. 

Lewes (lu'es), battle of, 344. 

Leyden (li'den), siege of, 448. 

Libraries, 18. 45. 54, 55, 71, 106, 154, 1.56, 157, 

162, 177, 178, 274, 275, 278-280, 297, 304, 

325, 328. 331, 553. 
Licin'ian Rogation, 219. 
Linnaeus, 55, 555. 
Lisbon, 426. 
Little Rome, 336. 
Livonia, 52.5, 
Livy, 277, 310, 325. 
Llewellyn (loo-61'in), 344. 
Locke, John, 513. 
Locomotive, the first, 585. 
L5'crians, the, 149. 
Lo'di, battle of. 548. 
Loire (I war), capture of, .358. 
Lom'bard, Peter, 413. 
Lombards, the, 320, 392. 
London, plague and fire in, 507. 
Londonderry besiegeil, 511. 
Longbows, 342, 361, 413. 
Longobard.s, 32.5. 
Long Parliament, 490. 
Long Walls, the, 138, 140, 145, 146, 194, 
Lord of Misrule, 474. 
Lorraine', 335. 
Lorraine, Cardinal of, 4.50, 
Lost Tribes of Israel, the, 84. 
Lothaire', ,33.5. 
Lothaire of Italv, 375. 
Lothaire II., of Saxony, 379. 
Lotharin'gia, 335. 



XXXIV 



inde:^. 



Lotus flower, 62. 

Louis VIL of France, 356, 400. 

Louis VII L, 355. 

Louis IX., 359, 403. 

Louis X., 355. 

Louis XL, 369. 

Louis XII., 4o0. 

Louis XIII., 486,488. 

Louis XIV., 488-494, 510, 514, 515. 

Louis XV., 529, 530, 537. 

Louis XVI., 537-543. 

Louis XVII., 543. 

Louis XVIIL, 571,572, 574. 

Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.), 578-580. 

Louis Philippe, 575-577. 

Louvois (loo-vvvji'), 489-492. 

Lowositz (lo'vo-sits), battle of, 530. 

Loyola (loi-6'la), Ignatius, 478. 

Lucerne', 389. 

Lucil'ius, 274. 

Lu cius Tarquin'ius, 209. 

Luckuow, battle of, 587. 

Lucretia, 211. 

Lncul'lus, 246. 

Lun^ville (lii-na-veel), 559. 

Luther, Martin, 424, 438-440. 

Lutherans called Protestants, 441. 

Lutzen (loot'sen), battles of, 48 !, 570. 

Luxemljurg, 490-492. 

Lux'or, 26. 

Lyce'uni, 157, 194, 282. 

Lycur'gus, 120. 

Lydia, 89, 125. 

Lyons, 543. 

Lysan'dei-, 145, 

Lysini'a£hus,153. 

Lysip'pus, 174, 183. 

Macedonia, 46, 148, 157, 236. 

McMahon (mak-ma-6n'), 582. 

Madrid', 435. 

Majce'nas, 275, 277. 

Magdeburg, capture of, 482. 

Magellan, 424, 427. 

Magen'ta, battle of, 595. 

Ma'gi, nia'giaiii§m, 97, 99, 

Magna Gharta, 343. 

Magna Gra;cia, 118. 

Magnesia, battle of, 237. 

Maiinns, Albertus, 413. 

Ma' go, 232. 

Magyars, the, 374. 

Maintenon (man-teh-non'), Mme. de, 490, 

516. 
Malines, 432. 

Malplaquet (nial-pla-l<a'), battle of, 493. 
Mamertine Prison, 208, 242, 259, 307. 
Man'etho, 15, 155. 
Man'lius, Marcus, 222. 
Miintine'a, 148. 
Man'tua, 550. 
Marat (nia-ra'), 540, r44. 
Mar'athon, battle of , 126, 
March, Earl of, 3C6, 367. 
Marcius, Ancus, 208. 
Marcius, Caius (Coriolanus), 219. 
Marco Bizzaris, 598. 
Marco Polo, 109. 
Marcus Aure'lius, 261. 
Mardo'nius, 126, 1S3. 
Marfin'go, battle of, 5.59, 



Margaret of Anjou, 368. 
Maria Louisa (ma-ri'a loo-ee'za), 567. 
Maria Theresa (te-ree'sa), 490. 527, 529. 530. 
Marie Antoinette (ma-ree' On-twa-n6t'), 

537, 543. 
Maiiette (ma-re-6t'), 27. 
Marigna'no (uui-reen-ya'no), b. of, 432. 
Ma'rius Ca'ius, 242, 243, 244, 248. 
Marlborough, Duke of, 493, 512. 
Maiiowe, Christophei-, 468. 
Marriage customs, 63, 189, 292, 322, 411. 
Mars. See Ares. 
Marseilles (niar-sillz'), 118, 543. 
Mavston Moor, battle of, 501. 
Martel', Charles, 329, 492. 
Martin V., Pope, 385. 
Martyrs, era of, 263. 
Mary of Burgundy, 370, 387, 433, 445. 
Mary of Orange, 510, 511. 
Mary Stuart, (^leen of Scots, 451, 463, 404. 
Mary Tudf^r, Queen of England, 444, 461. 
Massila (Marseilles), 118, 
Maurice of Nassau, 448. 
Maurice of Saxony, 442, 443. 
Maxim'ian, Roman Emperor, 263. 
Maxiniil'ian I., 386, 43U, 432, 445. 
Maximilian II.. 444. 
Maximilian of Austria, 433, 445. 
Max'imus Fa'bius, 223. 
Mayence (nia-6ns'), 326. 
Mazarin (maz-a-reen'). Cardinal, 488. 
Mazzini (mat-see'nee), Joseph, 593. 
Mecca, 326, 
Mede'a, 169, 275. 
Me'dia, 88. 

Medigeval civilization, 408-417. 
Medige'an age, 394. 

Medici (med'e-chee), Cath. de', 450^52. 
Medici, C. G. and L., de", 394. 
Medici, Maria de', 486. 
Meg'acle§, 123. 
Megalop'olis, 147. 
Meianth'thon, Philip, 440, 
Melea'ger, 116, 
Melpom'e-ne. See Muses. 
Mem'non, the vocal 14, 17. 
Memno'nium, the, 26. 
Memi>his, 15, 16, 27, SO, 31, 39, 40, 43, 90. 
Menan'der, 170. 
Menela'us, 116. 
Me'ne?, 15. 
Mentz, 425. 

Mercui-y, See Hermes. 
Merovingian (mer-o-vin'jean) Dyn., 331, 
Mesopota'mia, 17, 45, 
Messa'na, capture of, 227, 
Messe'nia, 121, 147, 
Messenian wars, 121, 136, 163. 
Messina (nies-see'na), 594. 
iMetau'rus, battle of, 234. 
Methodism, rise of, 534. 
Metric system, the, 561. 
Met'terni-eh, I'l-ince, 590. 
Met'tius Cur'tius, 206. 
Metz, 443, 580. 
Mexican war, the, 579. 
TNlexico, 427, 428. 
Migrations, Era of Great, 266. 
Mikado (mi-kji'do), the, 598. 
Mil'an, 264, 380, 430-432. 



INDEX. 



XXXV 



Miletus, 117. 

Military customs, 21, CO, GO, 101-10;^, 12G, 
14l>, 191, 225, 271, :W7, 30!), 323, 372, 383, 
412, 413, 5:i6; roads, Koman, 282. 

Miltoi), John, 513, 514. 

Miuep lali, 17, 82. 

Miner va. Seo Atlicns. 

Minnesingers, the, 414, 440. 

Minn L-ius, 221. 

Mississippi iiiibble, the, 537. 

Mithrida te§ the Great, 243, 246, 247. 

Mithri lafic wars, 243, 240. 

Mnemosyne (n5 -m6s'e-i>ee), ISf). 

M(Bri3(nie'ris), Lake. 17, 32, 39. 

Monjals , the Greit, 406. 

Mohac's (mo-hiich ), l)attle of, 436. 

Mohun'med, 326, 329, 417. 

Molianuned II., 407, 596. 

Mo'iammedanisni, 326. 

M'dhVvia, .597. 

Moli^re (mo-le-^r), 513. 

Moloch, 78, 79. 

Molt'ke, Count von, 591. 

Monasteries, suppression of, 458. 

Mons Sacer. 214, 217. 

Montezunias, the, 427. 

Montfort, Simon de, 344 ; father of, 358. 

Montlhery (mon-hi-ree'), 410. 

Montmoren'Qi, Constable of France, 450. 

Monuments. See Art. 

Moore, Sir Jolin, Scotch general, 566. 

Moore, Thomas, Irish poet, 555. 

Moors, tho, 328, 404. 

Morat', battle of, 370. 

More, Sir Thomas, English statesman, 4.')8. 

Moreau (mo-ro'), French general, 545, 559. 

M6r>,'ar'ten, battle of, 388. 

Mortgage-pillars, Greek, 123. 

Morton's fork, 455. 

Moscow (mOs'kS), Napoleon at, 568, 569. 

Moses, 80, 82, 86. 

Mount Ath'os, 126. 

Mount Etna (Vulcan's Forge), 184. 

Mount Vesuvius, battle of, 223. 

Mounts Ossa and Pelion, 113. 

Mummies, 32, 33, 34, 35, 42. 

Mummins takes Corinth, 236. 

Mun'da, battle of, 250. 

Murat (mii-ra), 563, 566, 569. 

Muril'lo, Spanish painter, 515. 

Muses, the, 164, 171, 185, 195. 

Museums, Alexandrian, 154 ; Berlin, 565; 
British (London), 52, .^5, 60, 181 ; Capito- 
line (Rome), 183; Gizeh, 18: Louvre 
(Paris), 55; L'nrin, 41; IJtfizi (Florence), 
183, 575 ; Vatican (Rome), 181, 424, 575. 

Myca-le, battle of, 134. 

Nabona'dius, 51. 

Nabonas'sar, era of, 46. 

Nabopolas'sar, 50, 70. 

Nse'vius, 273. 

Nafels (na'fels), )>attle of, 389. 

Na'na Sa'hib, 587. 

Nancj', battle of, 370. 

Nantes, Edict of, 454, 490. 

Napier (na'pe-er), .John, 514. 

Naples, 395, 430, 595. 

Napoleon I., 546-550, 552, 553, 559-574, 598. 

Napoleon II L, 578-580. 

Napoleon'ic Code, 561. 



Niir'vii, battle of, 523. 

Na§e'by, battle of, f)01. 

Navarino (na-vii-rceiio), battle of, .598. 

Navarre (na-var'), kingiiom of, 404. 

Navarre, Anthony, King of, 451. 

Navarre, Henry of, 454. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 50, 84. 

Ne'-tiio, 19. 

Necker, Jacques, 538. 

Neerwinden (niir'vni den), battle of, 492. 

NeLsoii, Admiral, 551, 563. 

Ne'mean ^'ames, 186. 

Neo-Platonism, 177. 

Neptune. See Poseidon. 

Ne ro, 259, 278, 305. 

Ner'va, 261. 

Netherlands, the, 445, 598. 

Neville's Cross, battle of, ;i62. 

NewcOm'en, 'i'lionias, 555. 

Newfoundland ceded to England, 494. 

Newton, Isaac, 514. 

Ney (na), Marshal, 568, 572. 

Nibelungenlied(nee'be-loong-en-leed),414. 

Nice (uees), or Ni(,8e'a (in Asia Minor), 265, 

399. 
Nice (in France), 437. 
Nicholas, Czar of Russia, 586. 
NiX'ias, Greek painler, lh3. 
Nicias, Greek general, 143. 
Nicop'olis, battle of, 407. 
Nihilists in Russia, 599. 
Nile Valley, the, 13, 15. 
Nimeguen (nim'a-gen), 492. 
Nimroud, 48, 55, 59. 
Nin'eveh, 47, 50, 88. 
Nirvana (neer-va'na), 107. 
Noailles (no-jil'), Viscomte de, 541. 
Nonconformists, 462, 506. 
Nord'ling-en, battle of, 485, 488. 
Norman Conquest, 339, 341. 
Normans, 339, 352, 354. 
Norsemen, 354, 414, 520. 
Northumberland, Duke of, 461. 
Norway, 525. 

Notre Dame. See Cathedrals. 
Nova'ni, battle of, 593. 
Nu'ma, Pompil'ius, 207. 
Numan'tia, siege of, 238. 
Nu'mitor, 20.5. 
Gates. Titus, 508, 509. 
Octa'via, 254. 

0(davius. See Augnstits Caesar. 
Odoa\er, Patrii ian of Italy, 269, 318. 
Odvssey, the, 117, 162. 
n<:(iipus Trilogy, the, 167. 
Oktai conquers Russia, 520. 
Olga, 520. 

Oligarchy, 117, 120, 146. 
Olym'pia, 115. 

Olympian games, 186 ; gods, 183. 
0' mar, 327. 

Omens, 185, 189, 196, 251. 
Ommiades (6-miyads), 330. 
O'phir, 74. 

Oppert (op'Crt), M., .53. 
Oracles, 167, 185. 

Orange, Prince of. See William of Orange. 
Oi-deal, the, 348. 
Orleaiiists, the, 576, 
Orleans, Duke of, 366, 536. 



XXXVl 



INDEX. 



Orleans, House of, 575. 

Orleans, siege of, 368. 

Or'maztl, 79, 93, 98. 

Osiris, 24, 31, 34, 42, 154. 

Os'tin, harbor of, 282, 284. 

Ostracism, 124, 129. 

Ostiogoths, 318. 

OthniaJi', 406. 

Otto I. (the Great), 374. 

Oxford, University of, 534. 

Pacto'lus, the river, 89. 

Pal'adin, 332. 

Palat'inate, devastation of, 492. 

Pal'atine Hill, 205, 2(J6, 274, 281, 297, 302. 

Paler'mo, 595. 

Palestine, 46, 50, 82, 83, 153, 259, 327, 397. 

See J erunalem. 
Pal'issy, 468. 
Pahnyra, 75, 281. 
Panathenaj'a, the, 187. 
Pansa, House of, 304, 306. 
Pantheism, 106. 
Pantheon, 298. 
Papal insignia, 321. 
Papal power, 316, 321, 332, 376-379, 385, 

390, 391, 392, 561, 594. 
Pappenheim (pap'en-him), 483. 
Papv'rus, 23. 
Parchment, 23, 156. 
Pariahs, Hindoo, 106. 
Paris, son of Priam, 116. 
Paris, 331, 359, 413, 530, 569, 570, 571, 576, 

578, 580, 581, 582, .586. 
Parliament, Long, 499. 
Par'ma, Duke of, 465. 
Parnassus, M(»unt, 185. 
Parnell, Charles S., 587. 
Parr, Catharine, 460. 
Par'thenon, the, 180. 
Par'thia, 156, 249, 262, 309. 
Pasar'gadse, 96. 
Pas'cal, French writer, 513. 
Pas€hal II., Pope, 379. 
Passan, Treaty of, 443. 
Patricians, Roman, 213. 
Patro'cles 77. 

Paul lus, Romaii general, 235, 236. 
Pausa'nias, 133-135. 
Pau'sias, Greek painter, 183. 
Pavia (pa-vee'a), battle of, 434. 
Peace, Decree of Perpetual, 387. 
Peasants, French, 538 ; German, 383. 
Pedagogues, 178, 19J, 197, 280. 
Pedro the Cruel, 364. 
Peol, Robert, 585. 
Pelas'gians, the, 114. 
Pelop'idas, 147. 
Peloponnesian war, l.'^9-145. 
Peloponnesus, 117, 121. 
Pena'tes. See Lares. 
Penel'ope, 117. 
Peninsular war, 565. 
Pep' in the Short, 332. 
Per'gamus, 23, 156, 237. 
Pgrlan'der. See Seven Sages. 
Pgr'Icles, 136, 140 ; age of, 135, 137, 200. 
Perioe'ki, 119, 160. 
Peripatet'ics, the, 176. 
Perry, Commodore, 601. 
Persep'olis, 94, 151. 



Perseus, 236. 

Persian Empire, 46, 88-104 ; wars, 125-134. 

Peru, 428. 

Peter the Gieat of Russia, 520-525. 

Peter the Hermit, 397. 

Peter III., 530. 

Pe'trareh, 396. 

Pe'trie, Flinders, Egyptologist, 39, 168. 

Phalanx, Macedonian, 149. 

Pharaohs, the. See Egypt. 

Phar'na;e§, 249. 

Phid'ias, Greek sculptor, 137, 181, 183, 305. 

Philip Augustus, 355, 357, 400. 

Philip of Anjou, 493. 

Philip II. of Macedon, 148-150. 

Philip III., 236. 

Philip IV. of France, 355, 359. 

Philip VI. (Valois), 355, 361. 

Philip II. of Spain, 444, 445, 462, 464. 

Philip III., 449. 

Philip IV., 490. 

Philip the Good (Burgundy), 367. 

Philip'pa of England, 362. 

Philip'pi, battle of, 253. 

Philip'pics of Demosthenes, 149, 173, 202. 

Philis'tines, 82. 

Philosophy and philosophers, 25, 1.^5, 157, 

175, 201, 274, 278, 413, 468, 513, 539, 553. 
Phocians, the, 149. 
Phoenicia, 73-79 ; Greeks in, 138. 
Plitah-ho'tep, 25. 
Pilate, Pontius, 259. 
Pindar, Greek poet, 151, 164. 
Pirates, 246, 338, 339, 354, 504. 
Pisa (pee'zji), 392, 468. 
Pisis'tratus, 123, 136. 
Pitt, William, 534, 535. 
Pitt the Younger, 536. 
Pit'tacus. See Seven Sages. 
Pius II., Pope, 386. 
Pius VII., 562. 
Pius IX., 594. 
Pizar'ro, 428. 

Plantag'enet line, 340, 346. 
Platre'a, 127, 133, 141, 143, 
Plato, 160, 168, 175, 199. 
Plau'tus, 274. 

Plebe'ians, definition of, 213. 
Plin'y the Eldei', 277. 
Pliny the Younger, 277. 
Plot, the Popish, 508. 
Plu'tar-eh, 177. 
Pluto. See Hades. 
Pnyx, the, 140, 194. 
Poitiers (pwa-ti-a'), battle of, 362. 
Poland, invasion of, 523 ; partition of, 526. 
Polignac (po-leen-yak'). Cardinal de, 516. 
Politics, derivation of name, 117. 
Pol'ycarp, 264. 
Polyhym'nia. See Muses. 
P6mera'nia, 485. 
Pompadour, Madame de, 537. 
Pompeii (p5m-pa'yee), 260, 286, 300, 302, 
Pompey the Great, 245-249. 
Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da lilon'), 427. 
Poniatowski (po-ne-ii-tSv'skec), 525. 
Pontecorvo (p6n-ta-k6r'v6), 563. 
Pontifex Maximus, 283. 
Pontifices (Pontiffs), College of, 289. 
Pontius, Caius, 223. 



INDEX. 



XXX VU 



x'ontus, kingdom of, 156. 

Pope, Alexaiiiler, Eiiylisli poet, .sr.r^. 

Popes, power of the. See I'ajHil I'mrer. 

Porsen'na l)esiej,'e.s Rome. 212. 

Portia, wife of Brutus, ^L'l-^. 

Portugal, 401, 44!), f.Gf). 

Portuguese, 31)1, 42ti, 427, 471, (>01. 

Poseidon, god of tlie sea, 184. 

Postage, ciieiip, 585. 

Postu inius, 224. 

Pragmatic Sanction, the, 392, 527. 

Prague, 385, 485, 591. 

Praxit'ele§, 183, 305. 

Pres'burg, Treaty of. 563. 

Presbyterians and Independents, 501. 

Priam, King of Troi', IIU. 

Pride's Purge, 502. 

Priestley, Joseph, English chcmii~t, 5'5. 

Printing, 42.5, 439, 475, 523, 553, 557, 565. 

Priscns, Tarquin'ius, 208. 

Pro' bus, 263. 

Propon'tis (Sea of Marmora), 118. 

Propylae'a, 182. 

Protectorate, the Englisli, roi. 

Protestants, named, 441. 

Protog'ene§, Greek pointer. 183. 

Prussia, 526-531, 564, 570, 572, .580, 590, 591, 

592. 
Psammet'ichus, 18. 
Ptol'emies, the, 153-155, 192. 
Pul'towa, 524. 
Punic wars, 227, 230, 23.5. 
Punislmients, 52, 60, 86, 88, 01, 92, 101, 191, 

242, 245, 259, 260, 280, 286, 348, 383, 417, 

473, 475, 499, 556. 
Puritans, 462, 499, 500-506. 
Pydna, battle of, 236. 
Pym, Jolin, 500. 

Pyramids, 16, 35 ; battle of, 551. 
Pyr'enee§, Peace of, 489. 
Pyrrhus (pir'us), 224. 
Pythag'oras, 174. 
Pythian games, 186. 
Quakers. See Friends. 
Queen Anne's War, 493. 
Quintus Curtius, 223. 
Quirinal Hill, 208, 298. 
Quirl te?, 208. 
Races, historic, 10, 13. 
Racine (rii-seen'), 513. 
Radicals, the, 500. 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 465, 468. 
Ram'ese§ II., King of Egypt, 18, 80. 
Kainesse'uni, the, 26. 
Ramillies (rA-mee-yee'), battle of, 493. 
Ram'nc§, 209. 

R iphael (rftf'a-el), 395, 424, 467. 
Riis'tadt, Treaty of, 490, 493. 
Rancoux (ro-koo'), battle (»f, 529. 
kavaillac (rji-valyak'), 454. 
Ravenna, Exarchs of, 320. 
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 53. 
Raymond, Count, 3.58. 
Reaunuir (ra-o-miir'). 55.5. 
Reformation, 424, 439, 444, 450, 458. 
Reforms, English, .583-5n5, 587 ; French, 

541 ; liimgarian, 592 ; Italian, 593 ; .T:ii)- 

anese, 601 ; Prussian, 590 ; Russian, 523, 

599 ; Turkish, 597. 
Regil'lus, Lake, battle of, 213. 



Reg'ulus, 229. 

Reign of Terror, 54.'^. 

Rembrandt, Dutch painter, 515. 

RG'mus, 205. 

R' iiaissance (renasans'X 395, 424. 

R'iwii (re-niV), lieath of, 430. 

R"pul)lic, Atiienian, 124 ; Batavian, 545, 

Frencii, 543, 578, 580 ; Greek cities, 118; 

Hebrew, 85; Helvetic, 551; Italian 

cities, 394, 417; Roman, 213, 215, 223, 

308, 309, 551. 
Republicans in France, 576. 
Restoration, English, 506; rren<;h, 571, 

574. 
Revival of Learning, 424, 467. 
Revolution, American, 535; fuigli-h, 510; 

French, 535-540, 55.3, 577 ; German, :m ; 

Greek, 598; Hungarian, 590; Italian, 593; 

Poland, 525. 
Rhapsodists, the Greek, 161. 
RIiCmi ish League, 384. 
Ri(-hard I. (Cceur de Lion), 340, 400, 401. 
Richard II., 365, 366. 
Richard III., 346, 309. 
Richardson, Samuel, English novelist, .5.53. 
Richelieu (resh'ehloo). Cardinal dc, 487. 
Ridley, Bishop, 460. 
Rienzi (re-en'zee), 396. 
Rights, English Bill of, 510; petition for 

English, 498. 
Rig-Veda, the Hindoo, 106. 
Ritual, the Egyptiar). See Book of the Dead. 
Rivoli (ree'vo-lee), battle of, 550. 
Rizzio (rit'se-o), 463. 
Roads, Roman, 226, 282. 
Robert of Normandy, 398. 
Robertson, William, 554. 
Rot>espierre (robes-peer), 540, 544, 545. 
Robsart, Amy, 466. 
Rochelle (ro-shei ), La, 487. 
Rocroi (ro-krwa'), battle of, 485, 488. 
Roland the Paladin, 332. 
Rullo the Viking, 354. 
Roman Empire, 46, 255, 257, 261, 269. 
Rome, 205-312, 430, 435, 548, 59-i, 596. 
Rom'nlus. 205. 
Roses, Wars of, 316, 346, 369. 
Rosetta stone, 22, 551. 
Ross'bath, battle of, 530. 
Rouen (roo-On'X capture of, 367. 
Roundheads, the, 500. 
Rousseau (roo-so'), 539, 554. 
Roussillon (roo-seel yon'), 489. 
Roxan'a (" Pearl of the East "), 152. 
Rubens, Peter Paul, 515. 
Rudolf of Hapsburir, 382, 384, 387. 
Rudolph II. of Austria, 444. 
Rump Parliament, the, 503. 
Run'nymede, 342. 
Ru'pvrt, Prince, 500, 501. 
Ruric fcmnds Rti.'^sia, 520. 
Russell, Lord John, 584. 
Russell, Lord William, 509. 
Russia, 520, 524, 565, 568, 586, 599. 
RQth'erford, Daniel, 555. 
Rye House Plot, 509. 
Ry§'wick. Treaty of. 490, 493. 
Sabines, the, 20(5. 209. 
Sacred Band, 147 ; wars, Grecian, 149. 
Sacrifices, human, 79, 325. 



XXXVlll 



INDEX. 



Sado'wa, battle of, 591. 

Sa'ga§, the Scandinaviaii, 414. 

Saguu'tuni, ca]jture of, 230. 

St. Augustine, 339. 

St. Bartholomew, massacre of, 453. 

St. Germain, 452. 

St. Louis. See Lmiis IX. of France. 

St. Paul, 260. See Cathedrals. 

St. Peter, 2€0. See CatJiedrals. 

St. Petersburg foundeil, 524. 

St. Quentin (sfln k6n-tan'), battle of, 444. 

Sal'adin captures Jerusalem, 400. 

Sal'amis, battle of, 132. 

Salisbury (sawlz'ber-i), Lord, 587. 

Sal'lust, 275, 310. 

Sitlva'tor Ro'sa, 515. 

Samaria, 49, 84. 

Sammur'amit, 48. 

Samnite wars, 224. 

Samson, 82. 

Samuel, 83. 

Sanskrit literature, 1C6. 

Sappho (saffo), 164. 

Sar'aijens, the. Sec Arabs. 

Sar'acus, 47, 50. 

Sardanapa'lus I., 48. 

Sardanapalus II., 49. 

Sardinia, 73, 593-595. 

Sar'dis, 89, 125. 

Sar'gon, and the Sargon'idaj, 46, 49. 

Sar'to, Andrea del, 467. 

Sassan'idaj, 93, 156. 

Sa'traps of Persia, 91. 

Sat-ur-na'lia, 239, 290, 295. 

Saul, 83. 

Savelli (sa-vel'ee), 396. 

Savoy, Duke of, 5C4. 

Saxe, Marshal, 529. 

Saxons in Germany, 373. See Avglo-Saxon. 

Scarabse'i, Egyptian, 30, 33, 41. 

Scenes in real life, 35, 63, 192, 296, 352, 474. 

Schel'ling, 554. 

Schiller, 554. 

Schism (siz'm), the Great, 385, 392. 

Schleswig-Holstein, 591. 

Scldiemann (slilee'man), 162. 

School, name derived, 179. 

Schoolmen, the, 413. 

Science, 28, 93, 111, 113, 173, 468, 514, 555. 

Scipio Africanus Major, 234, 23.5. 

Scipio Africanus Minor, 235, 238. 

Scipio Asiaticus, 235, 237. 

Sco'pas, 183, 305. 

Scotland, 345, 463, 503, 507. 

Scott, Sir Walter, 555. 

Sebasto'pol, siege of. 586. 

Sedan (se-d6n'), battle of, 580. 

Seleucidse (se-lu'si-dee), the, 155, 237. 

Seleu'cus, 155. 

Se'lini L, 596. 

Semir'amis, 49. 

Semit'ic race, 10. 

Sem'pa-eh, battle of, 888. 

Sempro'niiis, 231. 

Sen'eca, 278, 305,310. 

Senna-eh'erib, 49, 57, 67. 

Senti'num, battle of, 224. 

Separatists, the English, 462. 

Sep'tuagint, 154. 

Serto'rius, 245. 



Ser'vius Tul'liiis, 208. 

Sesorta'sens, the, 17. 

Ses6s'tris, 18. 

Se'ti (Minep'tab), 17. 

Seven-Montlis' War, 579. 

Seven Sages, 173, appendix i. 

Seven- Weeks' War, 591. 

Seven Wonders of the World, appendix i. 

Seven-Yeais' War, 529, 533. 

Seve'rus, Alexander, 262. 

Severus, Septim'ius, 262, 282, 284. 

S^vign6 (sa-ven-ya'), Madame dc, 513. 

Sextil'ius, 244. 

Sex'tus, Tarquin'ius, 211. 

Seymour (see'mQr), Jane, 460. 

Shakspere, William, 468, 513. 

Shaimane'§er II., 48. 

Shalnianeser IV., 49. 

Shelley, Percy Bysi-he (bish), 555. 

Shepherd kings, the, 17. 

Ship-money, 499. 

Ships and boats, 38, 192, 227, 253, .503. 

Sho'gun, the Japanese, 600. 

Siberia, 520, 600. 

Sib'ylline books, 209. 

Sicilian Vespers, 395. 

Sicily, 73, 118, 133, 395, 594. 

Sidney, Algernon, 509. 

Sidney, Philip, 464, 468. 

Si'don, 73, 78. 

Sig'ismund of Hungaiy, 385, 386. 

Sile'sia, 527, 530. 

Silk, 105, 320. 

SimOn'ides, 168. 

Slaves and slavery, 18, 36, 37, 49, 60, 63, 
80, 86, 119, 160, 161, 179, 195, 197-199, 
214, 229, 239, 267, 21i, 275, 280, 286, 290, 
292, 295, 298, 300, 301, 303, 30(5, 319, 322, 
347, 352, 402, 406, 429, 437, 584. 

Slavs, the, 12, 13. 

Slnys (slois), battle of, 361. 

Smalcaldic League, 442 ; war, 442. 

Smerdis, son of Cynis, 91. 

Smerdis the False, 90, 91. 

Smith, Sidney, 551. 

Sm51'lett, Tobi'as, 553. 

Sobieski (so-be-6s'kee), 492. 

S5c'rate§, 159, 170, 172, 174, 197, 199. 

Solferino (sol-fa-ree'no), battle of, 595. 

Solomon, 83. 

Solon, 89, 122, 123, 1 60, 190. See Seven Sages. 

SOl'yman, 436, 442, 596. 

Somerset (siim'er-set), Duke of, 460, 461. 

Sophia of Russia, 521. 

SOph'ists, the, 175. 

S5ph'oele§, 165, 166, 167. 

Sosig'ene§ revises calendar, 155. 

SontiVey, Robert, 555. 

South Sea Scheme, 532. 

Spain, 238, 310, 328, 428, 433-444, 446, 449, 
464, 493, 565-567, 580, 604. 

Sparta, 117, 119, 126, 139, 160, 192. 

Spar'tacus, 245. 

Spartans, 119, 129, 139. 141, 143, 160, 193. 

Spenser, Edmund, 468. 

Spinoza (spe-no'za), 514. 

Spu'rius Marlins, 219. 

Spurs, battle of the, 432, 456. 

Star Cbamber Court, 499. 
States-System, 426. 



INDEX. 



XXXIX 



statues, famous: .4?sop, 174; Anacrton, 
ir,4 ; Ap<»ll<> BLlvideie, 575; Athena ¥<- 
lias, 194; Athena Proniaclius, 1!>4 ; IVl, 
Beltis, and Islitat, 51) ; Bronze Horses <.i 
Venice, 575 ; Ca-sur, '250; Faun of Trax- 
iteles, 188; Jupiter, the Capitoline, -li^i, 
307; Meninon, 14, 17; ^iol)e jiroujt, 
183; Pallas Atiiena, 181; I'onipey, 252 ; 
Ranieses, 26; K. i)niulus and Renins, 20.".; 
Seven Sages, the, 174 ; Sliafra, 37 ; Slieikh- 
el-Beled, 27 ; Venus of Ciiidus, 181, 18.i ; 
Venus tie' Medici, 575 ; Zeus, 181. 

Steamships, 5.5G. 

Steele, Richard, 5.5,S. 

Steinkirk, battle of, 492. 

Stephenson, George, 585. 

SlU icho, 267. 

Stoics, the, 177. 

Stra'bo, 155. 

Strafford, Earl of, 408. 

Strasbur^', 326, 492. 

Stuart rule in Enj;land, 494. 

Stylus, mediajval. 414. 

Sudra (soo dra), the Hindoo, 106. 

Sulla, 242-245. 

Sully, 454, 494. 

Sun)i)tuary Laws, 416. 

Supremacy, Act of, 402 ; oath of, 458. 

Sweden, 482-485, 523, 524, 529, 564, 570. 

Swift, Jonathan, 553. 

Switzerland, 387-389; Reformation in, 441. 

Sylvius (Pope Pius 11. ), 386. 

Symposium, 198, 199. 

Syracuse, 118, 143, 144, 227, 233, 234. 

Syria, 46, 49, 50, 327. 

Syrian war (Rome), 237. 

Tabor, Mount, battle of, .552. 

Ta-itiis, 277. 

T ilavera (ta-Ia-va'rii), battle of, 568. 

Talbut, English captain, 369. 

T il leyrand, .563. 

Tamerlane', 406. 

T'ln'cred, 398. 

Ta'o-i§m, 111. 

Taren'tum, attack on, 224. 

Tarpe'ia, treachery of, 206. 

Tarpeian Rock, 206, 223. 

Taninin, 208-213. 

Tarqninii (quin'i-i), 212. 

Tar'shish, 74. 

Tarsus, Cleopatra at, 253. 

Tartars, the, 109. 

Taylor, Jeremy, 513. 

Tea introduced into England, 472. 

Tell, William, 388. 

Templars. See Knights Hospitallers and 
Templars. 

Ten Thousand, retreat of the, 145. 

Ter'en-je, 274. 

Terpsi-eh'o-re. See Muses. 

Tertul'lian, 264. 

Test Act, the, 508. 

Teuttms, 12, 13; defeated by ^farins, 242. 

Thji'le?. See Seven Sa(/cs. 

Thap'sus, battle of, •>:>(). 

The aters, 170, 187-lSJ), 284, 298, 336, 472. 

Thebes (theebz). Egypt, 16, 17 ; Uioscfc, 147, 
149, 151. 

Themistocie?, 128. 129, 132, 135, 180. 

TheOd'oric, 268, 318. 



TheodfVsius I. (the Great), 266. 

1 her'nue, Roman, 28:'>, 310. 

TnermOpyhe, 129, 237, 388. 

These-us, 116. 

'J'hes pis, 1(>5. 

Thiers (te Or), 580, 582. 

Thirty- Years' War, 480; effect of. 48.''>. 

Thomj.son, James, 553. 

Thor, 325. 

Thothmes (t5t'meez), I., of Egypt, 17. 

ThotlnnesIII., 17. 

Thrace, Persians def. ated at, 126. 

Thucytlides ((hu-sld'i (hjt z), 172. 

Ti bcr, the, 204, 205, 212, 250, 283. 

Tiberius, '>:>(>, 300. 

Ti'biir (Tivoli), 2h1. 

Tiers-titat (teerz a-tii), 359, 540. 

Tig'lathinin, 47. 

Ti-liith-Pile'ser I., 47. 

Tij4lath-Pileserlll.,49. 

Tigranes (ti-gra'necz), 246. 

Tigris-Euphrates basin, 13, 45. 

Tilly, Count, 482, 483. 

Til sit, 56.5. 

Timour . See Tamerlane. 

Titian (tish'an), 467. 

Titus, Roman emperor, 85, 260, 285, 32a 

Tole'do, 331. 

Torgau (tOrgow), battle of, 530. 

I'ories, .500, 509, 512, 532, 535, 536. 

Torricelli (tor-re-chel lee), 514. 

Tor'stenson, Sw< di-h -iem ral. 484. 

Toul (t>ol), sei/.e i by HeiTy II., 443. 

Toulon (too-lon 1, 490, .543. 

Touraine (too-ran ), :i58. 

Tour'naments, 412. 

Tours (tour), battle of, 328. 

Tower of London, 461, .507. 

Trafalgar (tr;\t-al-iLi!ir), batlle of, .563. 

Trajan, Roman emperor, 261, 202. 

Transmigration of souls, 24, 106, 174- 

Trasiine nus. battle of, 232. 

Tre])ia, battle of, 231. 

Trent, Council of, 442. 

Tribonian Code, 320. 

Tribunes, 214, 217, 218, 256. 

Trilogy, definiti(>ii of, 165. 

Trio, historical, 171 ; tragic, 166. 

Triple Alliance, 490; League, 598. 

Trireme, 192. 

Triumvirate. First, 248; Second, 2.52. 

Trojan war, 116. 

'I'rou'badours, the, 413. 

Trouvferes (troo vcr), the, 414. 

Troy, 115, 116, 162. 

1'royes (trwa), 367. 

Truce of God, 376. 

Tudor line, 346 ; rule. 455-467. 

Tullus Hostilius, 207. 

'funis, 437. 

Turanian peoples, 10, 46, 109. 

Turenne (tu-rCn), 4b5. 488, 490, 401, 492. 

Turg(>t(tiirg(y), French minister, 538. 

Turks, 3.30, 406, 407, 436, 437, 402, 586, 596, 

.598. 
Twelve Tables, Laws of the, 217. 
Tycoon', the, (00. 
Tyler, Wat. 366. 
Tvndale, William. 459. 
Tyrants, 123, 133, 145, 170, 262. 



INDEX. 



Tyre, 50, 73, 151. 

Tyi'ian dyes, 78. 

Tyitaeiis (tir-tee'us). Greek poet, 163. 

Ulm (oolm), battle of, 562. 

Ul'philas, 266. 

Ulys'se§. 117. 

Uuiforniity, Act of, 462. 

Uiiiversities, Colleges, and Schools : Ara- 
bian, 330 ; Charlemagne's, 336, 337 ; 
Chinese, 111 ; Egyptian, 26, 44 ; English, 
459, 467, 472, 513, 515, 553, 557, 588; 
French, 454, 490, 492, 581, 58s ; German, 
475, 476-478 ; Greek, 137, 155, 157, 163, 
178 ; Hebrew, 86 ; Japanese, 601 ; me- 
diaeval, 413 ; Eonian, 273, 275, 276, 280, 
300, 318 ; Russian, 523, 599 ; Spanish, 428 ; 
Swedish, 523 ; 15th century, 424 ; 16th 
century, 472. 

Ura'nia, nmse of astronomy, 185. 

Ui-'ban II., Pope, 398. 

Uruch, the earliest Chaldean king, 64. 

U'tica founded, 73. 

U'treeht, 448, 490, 493, 512. 

Vaisya, the Hindoo, 106. 

Valdez (val'deth) at Leyden, 448. 

Va'lens, defeat of, 266. 

Valerian Decree, 218. 

Val'my, battle of, 542, 

Valuis (val-wa') line, 358, 360 ; ends, 454. 

Vandals, 269, 318. 

Van Dyck', Flemish painter, 515. 

Van Tromp, 503. 

Var'ro, 232. 

Va'rus, massacre of, 256. 

Vasco da Gama (viis'ko dagii'mii), 394, 426. 

Vassy (vas-see), massacre at, 452. 

Vauban (v6-b5n'), 489, 491. 

Vaudois (v6-dwV), the, 450. 

Vedas (va'da§), tlie, 106. 

Ve-i-en'tine war, 218. 

Veil (ve'yi), 212, 218, 221. 

Velasquez (va-las'keth), 515. 

Vendidad, the Hindoo, 93. 

Venice, 269, 393, 430. 

Venus. See Aphrodite. 

Vercel'lae (ver-ch-el'lee), battle of, 242. 

Verdun', seizure of, 443 ; Treaty of, 335. 

Vermandois (ver-man-dwa'), 358. 

Ver6'na, 549. 

\^eronese (va-ro-na'za), Paul, 467. 

Versailles (versalz'), 486, 517. 

V^esa'lius, 468. 

Vespa'§ian, 260, 294. 

Vespucci (ves-poot'chee), Americus, 427. 

Vesta, 310. See Hestia. 

A'estal virgins, 289. 

"\'esu'vius, battle of, 223. 

Victor Emmanuel II., of Italy, 595. 

Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia, 593. 

Victoria, 583, 587. 

Vienna. 436, 442, 492, 562, 567, 572, 588. 

Villafranca(veel-ya-fran'ka), Peace of, 595. 

Viminal Hill, 298. 

Vinci (vin'chee), Leonardo da, 395, 467. 

Virgil, 275, 310, 325. 

Virginia, Colony of, 405. 

Virginia, Roman maiden, 217. 

Vishnu, 106, 108. 

Vig'igoths, 318. 



Volta, 555. 

Voltaire (vol-ter'), 554. 

Vulcan. See Uephsestus. 

Vullush III., 48. 

Wa gram, battle of, 566. 

Wales, 338, 344 ; first Prince of, 345. 

Wallace, William, 345. 

Walla'-ehia, 597. 

Wallenstein (wOl'en-stin), 481, 482,483, 484 

Wal'pole, Roljert, 533. 

Wal'singham, Francis, 462. 

Walter the Penniless, 398. 

War ton, Izaak, 513. 

War of 1812, the, 535. 

Warsaw, 526, 

Warwick (w5r'ik), Earl of, 369. 

Waterloo', battle of, 572. 

Watt, James, 555. 

Weinsberg (vms'berg), siege of, 379. 

Weissenburg (vi'sen-boorg), battle of, 580. 

Wellesley (wglz'li). Sir Arthur, 566, 568, 572. 

Wellington, Duke of. See Wellesley. 

Wesleys (w6s'Iiz), the, 534. 

Westpha'lia, 389, 449, 485, 486, 488. 

Whigs, 500, 509, 512, 532, 535, 536, 

Whitefield (hwiffeeld), George, 534. 

Whitney, Eli, 556. 

William I. (the Conqueror), 340, 341, 342. 

William III. of Orange, 491, 492, 510, 511. 

William IV., 583. 

William I., Emperor of Germany, 592. 

William II., 592. 

William the Silent, 446, 448. 

Winckelmann (vink'elmiin), 554. 

Winkelried (vink'el-reet), Arnold von, 889. 

Winter King, the, 480. 

Wo'den, 324. 

Wolsey (wool'zi), Thomas, 456-458. 

Worcester (woos'ter), battle of, 503. 

Wordsworth, William, 555. 

World-Empires, the, 46. 

World's Fair, London, 586 ; Paris, 579. 

Worms, 326; Diet of, 379, 386, 440. 

Wren, Sir Christopher, 515. 

Writing materials, 23^ 43, 44, 52-54, 71, 92, 

104, 177, 279, 280, 305, 325, 337, 349, 414. 
Wurmser (voorm'zer), 549. 
Wurtemberg (vur'tem-b6rg), 592, 
Wycliflfe (wik'lif), John, 386. 
Xanthip'pus, Spartan general, 229. 
Xantippe (zan-tip'pe), 197. 
Xavier (zav'i-er), Francis, 601. 
Xenocrates (ze-n5k'ra-teez), 157, 
Xenophon (z6n'o-fon), 47, 172, 
Xerxes (zerks'eez), 129, 130, 132, 133, 
York, House of, 340, 346, 369, 
Za'ma, battle of, 234. 
Zend-Avesta, 93, 
Ze'no, 157, 177, 
Zeno'bia, 263, 
Zeus (zus), 166, 180, 181, 184, 185, 186, 187, 

189, 196. 
Zenxis (zuks'is), 182. 
Zis'ka, Hussite leader, .386. 
Zollverein (tsol'fe-rin), the German, 589, 
Zorn'dorf, battle of, 530. 
Zoroas'ter, 93, 328. 
Zut'phen, battle of, 464. 
Zwingle (tsving'lee), Ulri€h,441. 



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